Metro

Town weeps for 2 beloved sons

Jack PInto (left) and Noah Pozner (right)

Jack PInto (left) and Noah Pozner (right) (
)

UNBEARABLE:Mourners embrace outside the funeral service for school-massacre victim Jack Pinto, 6, in Newtown, Conn., yesterday.

UNBEARABLE:Mourners embrace outside the funeral service for school-massacre victim Jack Pinto, 6, in Newtown, Conn., yesterday. (AP)

Veronique Pozner

Veronique Pozner (AP)

Even God must have wept.

The grief-wracked families of the 20 first-graders and six adults slain in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre began the grim task of burying their dead yesterday, holding the funerals for two 6-year-old boys amid gray skies and rain.

The sobbing mom of mischievous little Noah Pozner, the youngest of Friday’s victims, eulogized her son as Mama’s “little man.” Noah’s twin sister, Arielle, sat quietly in a front pew of a Fairfield funeral home, just three days after she escaped her brother’s fate, having been in a different classroom when killer Adam Lanza struck at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Meanwhile, at the same 1 o’clock hour, the body of avid little athlete Jack Pinto was lying in a coffin at a church in Newtown, wearing the white No. 80 jersey of his hero, New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz.

Noah’s coffin was of simple mahogany and adorned with a Jewish star.

Jack lay in a snow-white casket.

Earlier, both boys’ already tiny coffins seemed even more dwarfed by the sobbing adults who gathered around them at funeral homes on an appropriately gray and, rainy day.

At Noah’s service in the Abraham L. Green Funeral Home, his mom, Veronique Pozner, told mourners, “The sky is crying, and the flags are at half-mast. It is a sad, sad day. And it’s also your day, Noah, my little man.”

Among those on hand were Gov. Dannel Malloy and US Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

The mom said Noah was “life, love, mischief and pranks,” and “a little maverick who didn’t always want to do his homework or clean up his toys, when practicing his ninja moves or ‘Super Mario’ on the Wii” was more fun.

Her son had just celebrated his sixth birthday on Nov. 20.

As she spoke, her ashen-faced husband, Leonard, looked on silently and blankly, appearing too shocked even to cry as he sat with the couple’s four surviving kids.

“I will miss your forceful and purposeful little steps stomping through our house,” Veronique Pozner said.

“Mama loves you, little man,” she said as she wept.

Noah’s teenage brother, Michael, struggled to compose himself as he expressed “my absolute grief, my broken heart” over the boy. He said he couldn’t wait to see him again, in heaven.

“I cannot explain why such evil and senseless acts occur,” Michael said.

“I can only express the little comfort I find in knowing my brother is free, that he has gone home, that he is not dead.

“I love you, brother. I cannot wait until I see you once more.”

Some 25 miles away, little Jack Pinto lay in a half-open casket wearing his beloved Giants jersey, his hands clasping a rosary as mourners filed by him at the Honan Funeral Home in Newtown.

His best friend, “J.J.,” placed a handwritten note inside a frame at the funeral home that contained a photo of Jack.

The note read, “Dear Jack, You are my best friend. We had fun together . . . Love, John Haddick.”

A woman also showed up clutching a football helmet and a dozen medals.

She told onlookers quietly, “The wrestling team just gave Jack their most prized possessions,” and held the medals aloft as people waiting to express condolences began crying.

“This is senseless,” one mourner said of the unfathomable bloodshed that had brought all of them there.

Another mourner, referring to the group of Jack’s playmates who munched candy in a nearby room, said, “They’re too young to be going through this craziness.”

Andrea Trager, 51, whose husband works with Jack’s father, Dean, at Morgan Stanley, remembered the boy as a typical boisterous 6-year-old.

“He was everything a young boy is — innocent, and he loved playing. He had the world ahead of him. He was beautiful. He loved sports,” she said.

The Rev. Bill Meyer, who assisted in Jack’s funeral, said, “I never saw so many grown men cry. It was overwhelming.”

“It’s a horror beyond comprehension,” Meyer said. “The searing pain will never go away.”

A wake was also held yesterday for another 6-year-old victim, James Mattioli.

His family called him “our beloved prince,” as mourners wore ribbons of white and green, the Sandy Hook Elementary’s colors. He will be buried today

Wakes also will be held today for 6-year-old Charlotte Bacon and 7-year-old Daniel Barden. A funeral will be held today for 6-year-old Jesse Rekos.

Grieving mom’s sad salute

This is the heartbreaking eulogy delivered yesterday by Veronique Pozner (pictured) at the funeral of her 6-year-old son, Noah:

‘The sky is crying and the flags are at half-mast. It is a sad, sad day. And it’s also your day, Noah, my little man. I will miss your forceful and purposeful little steps stomping through our house. I will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark-blue eyes, framed by eyelashes that would be the envy of any lady in this room. Most of all, I will miss your visions of your future: You wanted to be a doctor, a soldier and a taco-factory manager. It was your favorite food, and no doubt you wanted to ensure that the world kept producing tacos. You were a little boy whose life force had all the gravitational pull of a celestial body. You were light and love, mischief and pranks. You adored your family with every fiber of your 6-year-old being. We are, all of us, elevated in our humanity by having known you. A little maverick who didn’t always want to do his homework or clean up his toys, when practicing his ninja moves or Super Mario on the Wii [was] far more important. Noah, you will not pass through this way again. I can only believe that you were planted on Earth to bloom in heaven. Take flight, my boy. Soar. You now have the wings you always wanted. Go to that peaceful valley that we will all one day come to know. I’ll join you there, someday, but not today. I still have lots of mummy love to give to Danielle, Michael, Sophia and Arielle. But until then, your melody will linger in my heart forever. Mama loves you, little man.”