Autumn Young was a beautiful, delicate flower, tended and nurtured by her family, but meant to flourish in God's house, the Rev. Vasyl Chepelskyy says as he stands before a crowd of mourners Saturday.

Autumn, all of 17 and an honor student at Panther Valley High School, died March 1 in a crash on snow-covered Route 309 in Tamaqua.On Saturday, classmates, teachers, principal and superintendent file quietly into Blazosky Funeral home in Nesquehoning to pay their last respects to the girl who quietly followed her own path in life.There's not much talk. Teachers offer tight smiles and curt nods as they brush away tears. Classmates huddled in winter coats stand in knots of two or three, mostly looking down at the ground.Her family sits in the first rows of chairs, their eyes avoiding the urn at the front of the room. Surrounded by bouquets and a "Class of 2015" T-shirt, poster boards of photos of Autumn rest at either side. Here's Autumn as a toddler, dressed in Easter outfits of pastel flowers and adorable hats. There she is as a pre-schooler, blowing out candles on a birthday cake. In others, Autumn goofs off with friends, rides her bike, and poses with her family.In later photos, a teenage Autumn offers her trademark sweet, shy smile, her eyes gentle.The funeral home overflows with mourners.The Rev. Chepelskyy prays, offering the traditional Byzantine Parastas service, a "standing service" in the ancient custom of standing to pray.It was a little more than 11 months ago that Chepelskyy offered funeral prayers for Autumn's mother, Monica Young, who died at age 47 on April 29, 2014.Chepelskyy offers the parable of a gardener tending his master's flowers. One in particular, one of the most beautiful, he waters and cares for. One day, just as the flower is approaching maturity, ready to bloom, he arrives to find it gone, the ground where it was planted empty.As he runs to break the bad news, he sees the flower, in full bloom, in his master's house."This flower was meant to be in my house from the very beginning," his master tells him.Autumn, Chepelskyy tells the mourners, is in the place God has prepared for her."She was the flower for all of us in this life, but now she is with our Lord. Now she is in a better place, where she was meant to be from the very beginning," he says.As hard as it is to let go of such a young life, know that her spirit lives on, Chepelskyy says."Life does not end even when death comes," he says quietly.