It was standing room only Saturday at the Milford funeral of the Garfield Elementary School principal who died from Legionnaires? disease.

Hundreds of students, parents and community leaders said heartfelt goodbyes to 58-year-old Howard Reed at Saint Peter?s Episcopal Church. Students boarded buses with poems and pictures of their beloved principal who, as one mourner remembers, would greet each student at the front door. Mayor John Fabrizi remembers Reed, who died Tuesday, as a community and spiritual leader.

Some mourners say they believe Reed was taken so he could watch over the children who were recently killed at school shootings across the nation. Health officials have tested the school and believe Reed contracted the respiratory illness elsewhere.

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