Utahns trying to make sense of the senseless slaying of a 22-year-old Provo man were told Saturday that "justice will heal and ease the mind," but it's "forgiveness and love that will ease the soul."
"New York is shocked and Provo is shocked. So is the nation. We have witnessed the loss of a true-life hero," Michael R. Hill told more than 300 people who gathered Saturday to pay final respects to Brian Watkins.The tennis star, who aspired to become a big-city prosecutor, was stabbed to death Sunday while trying to defend his parents from subway muggers seeking money to go to a Manhattan discotheque.
Six days later in his hometown, Watkins was eulogized at his funeral as a man who "loved helping others, and he died doing just that."
"I suppose there could be no greater epitaph on a tombstone than `He was trying to help his mother.' Somewhere in the heart and breast and soul of Brian there was a giant," said Hill, Watkins' former Mormon bishop.
Representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the church's First Presidency, assured the Watkins family that "all is well with Brian."
"As I heard the account of those things which brought happiness to Brian Watkins, in the vernacular of the day I would say, "He's my kind of man.' "
President Monson said Brian was a competitor who loved to shine, but did so honestly - sharing the laurels and extending his love.
"He shall be busily engaged in the work of the Lord. Anyone with a personality like he had and a zest for living like he had will not be idle in paradise," the church official promised.
The bronze casket with gold fittings was closed during the 75-minute service in the Provo North Stake Center. But a spray of flowers featuring crossed tennis rackets outlined in white mums brought tears to many remembering the highly competitive youth who "did whatever was necessary so he would always come out on top."
Brian's 26-year-old brother, Todd Watkins, told colorful anecdotes illustrating Brian's competitive spirit, ignited early in childhood.
Brian Watkins didn't like to lose.
In fact, Todd said that while playing little league baseball, Brian reached out and caught the ball with his bare hand in order to get the runner out at first. Although his finger ached at the end of the inning, Brian finished the game. Later a doctor confirmed his finger had been broken.
Todd said as Brian grew, so did his competitive spirit and fortitude - evident in 1984 when Brian suffered a serious knee injury playing tennis. Following three operations, including a total knee reconstruction, he defied coaches' doubts and in 1986 won the state tennis championship for Provo High School.
He was Idaho State University's "most inspirational player" as a freshman in 1987.
But athletics took a back seat to family in Brian's life, according to Todd, who joked about his brother's "lived-in room" in an otherwise spotless house and Brian's cereal feasts with his 10-year-old sister, Emily.
Although highly competitive, Brian was also described as compassionate - evident, Todd said, by Brian's last visits to Manhattan.
Two months ago while on a business trip in New York, Brian broke from his group to buy a box of donuts for a homeless man begging for breakfast money, Todd said.
Last week, during the family's annual pilgrimage to New York to watch the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Brian sacrificed much more.
He gave his life trying to protect his parents from assailants in a midtown Manhattan subway station.
Brian's death, Hill said, while tragic, is not without meaning.
"It is amazing as I have watched over the last four or five days the amount of attention that has been drawn from a young man from Provo, Utah, who died - giving his life for his family in New York," Hill said.
"There is some purpose that will come from Brian's death."
No mention was made at the funeral of the eight young men accused of killing Watkins. All eight have have been charged with second-degree murder and related robbery counts and are jailed pending a Sept. 24 bond hearing.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau promised Watkins' parents the defendants won't be offered a plea bargain.
Meanwhile, stung by the stabbing, many New Yorkers this week sent condolences to the Brian's parents, Sherwin and Karen Watkins.
Bishop David G. Hansen, who presides over the Watkins' LDS ward, said one Manhattan resident has established a fund for the family. Others of all faiths this weekend held memorial services for the Utah man.
Additionally, a man from Brooklyn called Hansen with this plea, "I am not of your faith, but we are all human beings deserving dignity. Please do not blame all New Yorkers for this."
Still other New Yorkers, Hansen said, laid flowers Saturday at the subway entrance where Brian Watkins was fatally stabbed.