ELEVEN days ago, Robert Scott would have been walking his daughter Stephanie through the vine-covered archway of Eugowra’s Eat Your Greens function centre.
Instead, the Scott family were among about a thousand people gathered at the picturesque wedding venue in central western NSW on Wednesday to farewell the 26 year-old teacher.
The celebration of her life marked yet another sad milestone since she disappeared from Leeton High School on Easter Sunday.
Three days after she was last seen, school cleaner Vincent Stanford was charged with her murder. Two days later, police found her charred body in a national park 70 kilometres away.
On April 11, the day she was due to marry Aaron Leeson-Woolley at Eat Your Greens, her family fronted a public memorial at Mountford Park in Leeton and released yellow balloons into the sky in memory of the popular English and drama teacher.
Ms Scott’s elder sister Kim said she pulled together 95 slides to show at the private service on Wednesday but it still didn’t do justice to the smiling girl she called Button-Nose.
“I've laughed, I've cried, I've even tried to impersonate your brilliant cackle, but after 95 slides, I still don't think I've done your beautiful life justice,” she posted online, two days before the memorial. “You'll always be our little sister and always be our Button-Nose.”
Her sister Robyn responded: “The world is far less bright without her in it. Our lives less full and our future less whole. How can this happen to someone so good?”
The two-kilometre stretch of road winding from Eugowra to Eat Your Greens was lined with yellow balloons and streamers on Wednesday as hundreds of cars filed in to the countryside venue.
Under a grey sky, mourners came with bright yellow ribbons in their hair and pinned to their jackets. Her younger brother Scott donned a yellow tie, her mother Merrilyn wore a corsage of yellow roses.
Be Still by The Killers rang out over surrounding paddocks, with lyrics: “Be still/Wild and young/Long may your innocence reign/Like shells on the shore/And may your limits be unknown.”
Leeton High School vice-captain Grace Green told the crowd how difficult it would be to finish the last two terms of high school without the “love and laughter” of everyone’s favourite teacher .
She recalled excursions to Sydney and her teacher's well-worn motto of “please study, eat, repeat”.
“Miss Scott was a breath of fresh air,” she said.
One of Ms Scott's bridesmaids, Bec Welsh Eppelstun, told the crowd her best friend “had this... way about her which meant she could get on with anyone”.
Mr Scott perched a large photo of his daughter in front of a white casket topped with pink flowers before the service began.
A photo of her as a grinning graduate fronted the order of service, behind the words Stephanie Clare Scott.
After a service and wake at Eat Your Greens, her family were expected to continue celebrating her life at the Services Club in their home town of Canowindra.
Schools between Leeton, Cowra and Canowindra flew flags at half mast on Wednesday and businesses in Leeton closed from 1pm to 2pm as a sign of respect.
Students, colleagues and Leeton community members held a public memorial to coincide with the private celebration at Eugowra.
The Scott and Leeson-Woolley families had spent Tuesday night together, reminiscing and comforting each other.
“Oh my goodness i love my family which obviously includes my amazing brother in law Aaron Leeson-Woolley,” Robyn Scott posted on Tuesday night.
“Even with the loss of Stephanie Clare we are still blessed to have each other to give each other strength in this terrible time for us as a family. Stephanie Clare would be proud of us thats for sure.”
Friends remember Stephanie
STEPHANIE Scott loved music, dancing and the colour yellow.
“She was just beautiful, everyone loved her,” according to Ruby Scanlon.
Miss Scanlon, who lived in the same on-campus accommodation block as Miss Scott at Charles Sturt University in Wagga, said she was one-of-a-kind.
“If you met her once you would remember her, even if it was a long time ago,” Miss Scanlon said.
“She was very special.”
Miss Scanlon said MIss Scott loved sport.
“She loved her sport, she would give any kind of sport a shot.”
Miss Scanlon said Miss Scott always had a smile on her face.
“She was really goofy and fun, we all loved her.”
Miss Scanlon and a number of other students from CSU who were friends with Miss Scott are organising an art auction to raise funds for her family.
“I emailed a bunch of people who went to uni with Steph,” Miss Scanlon said.
“We wanted to do something to help.”
Miss Scanlon said those involved in organising the auction had been overwhelmed by the offers of artwork, vouchers and other pieces to auction.
Prue Officer also attended CSU and is helping organise the auction.
“I personally didn’t know Steph but I went to CSU and I know a lot of people who did know her,” she said.
“It was one of those things that touched us all and broke our hearts. We wanted to do something to pay our respects,” Miss Officer said.
Miss Officer said more than 60 people had offered to donate items to auction.
“We’ve had an amazing response, with so many people wanting to contribute,” she said.
Miss Officer said organisers of the auction hoped to host it in the coming weeks.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/artforsteph to donate an item.
Meanwhile, Father Robert Murphy from St Peter’s Anglican Church has urged the community to “draw together and support each other” following Miss Scott’s alleged murder.
“This is a very supportive community and that was shown on Saturday,” Fr Robert said. “We need to look towards the future and hold her memory in our hearts.”
Fr Robert said while faith didn’t remove the reality of dealing with difficult things in life, it gave people the strength to move on and concentrate on the positives. Asked about the presence of evil the world, Fr Robert said everyone had their own free will.
“I think people feel angry and saddened as well as shocked. In this community you always think ‘these things don’t happen here’,” he said.