My name is Mathai Mammen.

This week we lost my daughter and our angel Madelaine Shil-Lei Mammen;

We lost Laine completely unexpectedly, as if space just shimmered and she was suddenly not there.

My belief is that Laine was literally an angel sent from heaven on a mission to help our family and our communities.

The waves of warmth and light coming off of her were so evident as she danced, as she sang, as she hugged, as she spoke, as she joked, as she scolded, as she bestowed wisdom, as she loved. Laine lived an intensely full six and a half years, burning so very brightly. The Monday that she died was supposed to be the day of her half-birthday celebration at school.She was loved by all, and she knew it. She loved all those that she met, even for the first time, warmly and generously, without expectations. We would walk through Menlo Park on weekends through banks, coffee shops and drug stores, where she was well known. She would go behind the counter and say “hello, how are you today” and hug the teller, the barista and cashier, and tell them briefly about something funny from that day or something that was on her mind. She would always interact genuinely, responding to what they said and asking questions.I can tell that when we left, she was able to leave behind smiles and warmth.Laine lived in a number of communities including her family, her school, her church and her town. In each of these she did good, created joy, loved, added some craziness, brought people together that would normally not, often did something not quite expected,smiled her glorious smile, and made such a deep,deep and lasting impact. I wanted to be able to relate something about Laine’s life with an example. But I struggled with this task, as HOW do you paint a rainbow with a single color? And Laine was indeed a rainbow. I’ll tell two brief stories, thenI ask you all to relate to each other after the service what you remember about Laine. First) Laine had an absolutely incredible imagination and creativity. Did you know that in addition to her real family, Laine had another family, She was married. Her husband’s name is Prince. Of course it was. Prince is eight. Then, at least at one point, she had nine children. Each had a name, a birthday (which was carefully recorded on her calendar) and even friends. It was too much for us to remember. When my parents were here, she declared “yeah, today is Jessie’s birthday”. My father replied, “who is Jessie”? To which Laine said “she’s your great granddaughter silly, and you should have known that today is her birthday!”. I lost track once her children had friends, who in turn had names, and would come for playdates to our house. One day in the backseat of our car while we were driving, she went “ahhhh”. I said “Laine, what’s wrong!”. To which she replied “Daddy, I just had another baby!”. That made ten. Second) Laine would always, without fail, leave me notes hidden somewhere in my bag whenever I travelled. These noteswere intended to be found some time during the trip. I was supposed to travel recently but fatefully did not. But Laine, even though she had these stomach aches, managed to leave a note in my bag. There was a picture of a rainbow colored umbrella with she and I standing under it. And there was a note that read “I love my dad and my dad loves me”. Please remember Laine in your prayers. Please remember the impact that she had on your lives, and reflect on the little package of joy that she was to this world, in her work and mission as the angel she was, now returned to God’s hands.