'My mom was an angel:' Standing room only at funeral of Lomita woman killed in Las Vegas

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Monday, October 16, 2017
Lomita mom killed in Las Vegas massacre remembered as 'angel'
Lisa Patterson's eldest daughter, Amber, asked the mourners to raise their hands and pledge to live by her mother's example.

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (KABC) -- One of the Southern Californians killed in the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas was buried Friday.

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A funeral was held for 46-year-old Lisa Patterson at St. John Fisher Church in Rancho Palos Verdes.

About an hour before the gunman opened fire, the mother of three called her husband back home in Lomita and held her phone up so he could hear "God Bless America."

It was standing room only at her funeral Friday. Hundreds of friends and loved ones gathered to say goodbye to the wife and mother of three.

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"This is a tragic, senseless loss," said Patterson's husband, Robert.

But Patterson's family did not want her funeral to be marked by tears.

"'Celebrate my life,' she would say," said her daughter, Amber. "'I'm in friggin' heaven!'"

"She was one of those people where even if you didn't know her name, you could remember her smile," said her son, Robert III. "My mom was an angel before she even died."

Everyone in attendance was given a green wristband that read, "Live like Lisa P." Patterson's eldest daughter, Amber, asked the mourners to raise their hands and pledge to live by her mother's example.

"I will spread her love. I will celebrate her life. And I will make her proud," hundreds of voices repeated in unison.