Burial Services set for Army Private and Lakeland Graduate Elizabeth Lynch-Gonzalez

Funeral arrangements and a vigil have been set for 19-year-old Elizabeth Lynch-Gonzalez. 

A wake will be held on Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Clark Funeral Home, located at 2104 Saw Mill River Road in Yorktown Heights. 

Mary Ellen Lynch, who saw her daughter's body last week after it washed ashore, said her face has not been damaged and the family will have an open casket. 

"She looked beautiful," she said.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday at 11 a.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, located at 1377 East Main Street in Shrub Oak. Her burial will take place at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne. 

A memorial service and vigil is planned to be held at the Lakeland High School field on Friday at 7 p.m., where Elizabeth used to play field hockey and lacrosse. Friends and schoolmates can share their grief over her sudden death. 

Because the death was so sudden and unexpected, any donations that are raised to cover the funeral costs would be a "tremendous help," said the family.

Lynch Gonzalez, a 2009 Lakeland graduate and an Army private, jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge Thursday morning after her assignment date was changed to depart that same day for Fort Bliss, Texas.

"It pushed her over the edge," her mother said. 

Lynch said her daughter was proud to be in the army, because that's what she wanted to do, and she was never depressed. Elizabeth's brother William, who is serving in Iraq, will be returning home for the funeral.