CANAAN — The mood in town has been somber since word spread of the death early Saturday morning of Keri L. Perotti, 21, in an automobile accident. And when tragedy strikes in a small town, no one faces their grief alone.
Wednesday night, more than 1,000 people patiently waited outside Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home on Main Street, some for more than three hours, to pay their respects to Perotti's parents, Selectman Charles Perotti and his wife, Bonnie.
The line from the two-story brick home snaked out the door, down the street, and past the library a few buildings down, curling around the library parking lot.
It was a turnout not unexpected, as the family is well-known and beloved throughout the Northwest Corner. All week, well-wishers have made pilgrimage to the Trescott Hill Road home where Perotti still lived with her parents. An effort coordinated by relative Laurie Perotti brought a steady supply of potluck dishes to feed the grieving family; friends, family, neighbors, coworkers came from near and far to express their sympathy, to offer a hug, to share a story about Keri Perotti.
Perotti graduated from North Canaan Elementary and Housy in 2009. She was a student at Northwest Connecticut Community College in Winsted, and worked in the family business, William Perotti & Sons Plumbing and Heating of East Canaan.
She followed in the footsteps of her two older sisters, Shannon Mlodzinski and Marci Saunders, in her love of sports, particularly soccer.
She was active in the Canaan Fire Company, where her father served as longtime chief.
Perotti died in a car crash about 3 a.m. Saturday on Daisy Hill Road less than a mile from her home. The Canaan Fire Company was called to the scene. Initial police reports described a one-car crash, her Dodge Neon into a tree. Details have been few about the cause of the crash.
By Wednesday night, word had spread, with mourners from every town in the Corner, and friends who had traveled from former sports teams and colleges to pay their respects. People in line cried, and laughed at memories, and consoled. There were people of all ages, people who knew Keri, knew her parents, knew her sisters.
Inside, 51 floral arrangements dotted the viewing room where Perotti lay. Robert Palmer, the funeral director, said this is one of the largest wakes he can remember. Fire companies sent squads in full dress uniform who entered the wake for short ceremonies, then left. Firefighters from Sheffield and Great Barrington manned the Canaan station, as every firefighter attended the wake.
"This is something no family should have to go through," said First Selectman Douglas E. Humes Jr., who said he grew up with Charlie Perotti and has known him and his wife since they were a young couple. "The town rallies, there's been an outpouring of support."
Bruce K. Adams, the first selectman of Kent, coached Keri Perotti at soccer camp at Rumsey many summers ago, as he did her sisters; she later became a staff member at the camp, he said. His memory of Keri was when she was much younger, when her sisters played at the camp and their mother baked cookies for everyone. Keri would always carry those cookies across the field, handing them out to everyone, Adams recalled.
Keri Perotti's Twitter page, where she called herself a country girl, reveals hints of the young woman she was — tweets about the Yankees and an autographed photo of Bruins star Tyler Seguin; tweets about having to wake up at 5:30 a.m., about having to study for a history quiz, about how much she loved her friends. On Oct. 7, she tweeted this: "My Daddy's making steak for dinner. He's the best."
Wednesday, Scott McCarty, athletic director at Forman School in Litchfield, choked up talking about Perotti. He coached Keri in a team called the Northwest Rovers, a traveling soccer team, when she was 15, 16 and 17.
"She was a phenomenal kid, full of spirit," he said, tearing up. "A good kid, a good family."
By 9:30 p.m., more than 100 people still waited to get into the wake, which was scheduled for 5 to 9 p.m. Funeral director Palmer came out to walk the line, with a message from Charles and Bonnie Perotti:
"Don't go home," he said. "They will stay as long as it takes. They want to see you and thank you all."
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held today at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph's Church, 4 Main St. Burial will follow in St. Joseph's Cemetery, and the town will get together once more, for an after-funeral gathering at the church's Bitterman Center hall.
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