Gathering at Westford Academy Ends a Week of Mourning
By Joyce Pellino Crane
WESTFORD, Mass. – The bright smile was evident in every photo displayed on the oversized screen at an afternoon vigil memorializing Olivia Marchand, 17, who, police say, was the tragic victim of domestic violence.
Westford Academy students honored Marchand’s memory one final time, this afternoon, with a five-minute photo essay depicting their classmate from her elementary school days through her senior year—an effervescent girl surrounded by friends or nuzzling her horse Lola.
The assembly inside the school’s 850-seat Performing Arts Center drew so many mourners that it spilled over into a gymnasium.
Police say Marchand was shot with a 9 mm handgun by her father, Brian Marchand, 59, who also critically wounded his wife, Jody, 50, and then killed himself with a gunshot.
The tragedy stunned a quiet community that had just been rocked on January 9 by a similar crime, when police say, Frederick Leduc, 45, shot his wife Karen, 43, at their Forge Village Road home.
Leduc sustained a bullet wound to his chin and is recuperating, according to a spokesperson for Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone. Leduc is charged with first degree murcer.
The photos of Marchand capped a moving program that began with choral students singing an a cappella version of “I Believe” from the Broadway musical, “Spring Awakening,” and ended with her grandfather, Walter, “Wally” Toney, speaking extemporaneously about the granddaughter who was “the love of his life.”
“I was there when she was born,” he said, “I was there to put her on the bus for kindergarten. Whenever she couldn’t get a ride from Mom or Dad, she called ‘Pop.’”
Toney did not update the assembly on the condition of his daughter, Jody, who was med-flighted to the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Monday. A projected image of Jody Marchand, hugging daughter Olivia, greeted mourners as they arrived.
When reached by phone today, a hospital representative said he had no information on Jody Marchand. Unconfirmed news reports say she was shot in the head and shoulder.
Other speakers included James Antonelli, principal of Westford Academy, Everett “Bill” Olsen, school superintendent, Wendy Pechacek, Marchand’s school guidance counselor, Rev. Francis L. Costello, retired pastor of the First Baptist Church of Chelmsford, and Nicole Kibblehouse, Marchand’s best friend and a Westford Academy senior.
Marchand emerged through their presentations as an outgoing, friendly, kind person, well-liked among her peers.
“The name ‘Olivia’ was so appropriate,” said Olsen, “because the name means beauty, truthfulness, dignity, and peace. She was beautiful and now she’s at peace.”
Meanwhile at the Blake Funeral Home in Chelmsford, a neighboring town to Westford, a wake was held for Brian Marchand today. According to a published obituary, he was the father of three children from a previous marriage, the grandfather of four, and a cancer survivor. Olivia was the only child of Brian and Jody Marchand, according to Leone.
“This sudden and tragic ending did not reflect the man he was or the life that he led,” said the posting. “He will be greatly missed by family and friends.”
