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Funeral Service Held For Slain Md. Priest

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ) — Remembering a church leader. On Tuesday afternoon an emotional funeral was held for a Howard County reverend killed in cold blood.

Adam May attended the service.

It seemed like everyone we talked to used the same words to describe the late reverend: warm and caring.

There were sad hearts on this rainy day outside the Cathedral of the Incarnation, as hundreds turned out for the funeral of Rev. Mary-Marguerite Kohn.

May: "What kind of a loss is this for the community?"

Catherine Eaton: "A tremendous one."

Last Thursday, a homeless man killed Kohn and church secretary Brenda Brewington.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City had been feeding Douglass Jones regularly, but he was turned away after becoming belligerent.

He came back with a gun.

"She was very spiritual, very giving," one parishioner said.

We spoke to a couple Kohn just married a few years ago.

May: "Is it tough to make sense of this tragedy?"

Man: "Yes, it's tough."

Many attending the funeral say Kohn was a key figure in family memories.

"She baptized both my nephews and married my sister and her husband, so she meant a lot to our family," said one parishioner.

"While we'll always be sad, we also know she's been blessed and she'll continue to bless us through the memory of her spirit," another parishioner said.

Kohn had a passion for social justice. She worked with the veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and people living with AIDS and HIV.

Brewington's funeral is set for Thursday at St. John's Parish in Ellicott City.

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