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Funeral processions, and a heroic teacher

NEWTOWN, Conn. - One by one by one by one, each with fresh heartbreak, hearses crisscrossed two New England towns on Wednesday, bearing three tiny victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre and a heroic teacher in a seemingly never-ending series of funeral processions.

NEWTOWN, Conn. - One by one by one by one, each with fresh heartbreak, hearses crisscrossed two New England towns on Wednesday, bearing three tiny victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre and a heroic teacher in a seemingly never-ending series of funeral processions.

"The first few days, all you heard were helicopters," said Joseph Young, an optometrist who attended one funeral and would go to several more. "Now at my office all I hear is the rumble of motorcycle escorts and funeral processions going back and forth throughout the day."

As more victims from the slaughter of 20 children and six adults were laid to rest, long funeral processions clogged the streets of Newtown, where Christmas trees were turned into memorials and a season that should be a time of joy was marked by heart-wrenching loss.

At least nine funerals and wakes were held on Wednesday for those who died when gunman Adam Lanza, armed with a military-style assault rifle, broke into the school Friday and opened fire on their classrooms.

At St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, mourners arrived for Caroline Previdi, an auburn-haired 6-year-old with an impish smile, before the service had even ended for Daniel Barden, a 7-year-old who dreamed of being a firefighter.

Hundreds of firefighters formed a long blue line outside the church for little Daniel's funeral. Two of his relatives work at the New York Fire Department, and the gap-toothed redhead had wanted to join their ranks one day.

Family friend Laura Stamberg of New Paltz, N.Y., whose husband plays in a band with Daniel's father, said that on the morning of the shooting Mark Barden taught his son to play a Christmas song on the piano.

"They played foosball and then he taught him the song and then he walked him to the bus and that was their last morning together," Stamberg said.

At Caroline's funeral, mourners wore pink ties and scarves - her favorite color - and remembered her as a Yankees fan who liked to kid around. "Silly Caroline" was how she was known to neighbor Karen Dryer. "She's just a girl that was always smiling, always wanting others to smile."

Across town, at Christ the King Lutheran Church, hundreds gathered for the funeral of Charlotte Helen Bacon, many wearing buttons picturing the 6-year-old redhead. Speakers, including her grandfather, told of her love of wild animals, the family's golden retriever and the color pink.

And in nearby Stratford, family and friends gathered to say goodbye to Victoria Soto, a first-grade teacher hailed as a hero for trying to shield her students, some of whom managed to escape. Musician Paul Simon, a family friend, performed "The Sounds of Silence" at the service.

In Woodbury, a line of colleagues, students and friends of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, wrapped around the block to pay their respects to the administrator, who rushed the gunman in an effort to stop him. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended the service.