Pastor Craig Forwalter said in many ways, he and Nicole Gland had the same job, and that was listening.
“Nicole as a bartender understood that very well,” said Forwalter, who officiated at Gland’s funeral, as he addressed a crowd that overflowed from the chapel at Edmonds and Evans Funeral Home in Portage.
Listening, he said, “is a ministry, and she did it very well.”
Hundreds of people streamed through the chapel to pay their last respects to Gland, 23, a Portage resident who bartended at the Upper Deck in Chesterton. Her wooden casket, adorned with a large arrangement of flowers, sat at the front of the chapel, flanked by picture boards, bouquets and a wreath.
Gland was stabbed to death sometime in the early hours of April 19. A Chesterton Tribune employee going to work discovered her body in her sport utility vehicle shortly after 9 a.m. that morning on Lois Lane, behind the Upper Deck.
Christopher Mark Dillard, 50, of the 200 block of Delaware Street in Hobart, a bouncer at the Upper Deck, pleaded not guilty Monday to a murder charge in Gland’s death. He is being held in Porter County Jail without bond. Police have not suggested a motive for the alleged crime.
At the back of the funeral chapel, a video slideshow played pictures from her life — camping with her family; playing in a swimming pool with her father, Matthew Gland, and brother Nathan Gland; taking a bath in a kitchen sink; posing with her prom date; graduating in a cap and gown from Portage High School in 2012.
A collage of pictures of Gland with her friends was labeled “Rest in peace, the most beautiful girl in the world. You made this world a better place.”
Many of the floral arrangements, including one from the employees of the Upper Deck, were purple, which friends said was her favorite color. In her memory, friends wore purple rubber bracelets that read “Nicole Gland. Fly high, beautiful.”
Jessica Lay, who graduated from high school with Gland, wore one of the bracelets and stood outside with other friends before the service.
“She’s sweet, very, very sweet, very down to earth. There was never any drama,” said Lay, of Portage, who until recently worked as a bartender at a Portage bar.
“It’s crazy. It definitely hits close to home, especially being a bartender. It really affects the community,” she said. “It’s nice to see that everyone comes together and remembers and can be there for everyone and at the same time, it’s sad and scary.”
Heather Geeze, also of Portage, worked with Gland at the Rusty Nail, a Portage bar, before Gland took a job at the Upper Deck.
“As a bartender, it’s scary and heartbreaking. Usually as a bartender, you’re nice and friendly and there to help people,” she said. “She didn’t deserve this. As a bartender, it’s definitely an eye-opener. You never know the people you’re around every day.”
The outpouring of support from the Portage and Chesterton communities was important as Gland’s family worked through their grief, said Kim Pazdur, of Michigan City, a longtime family friend.
“She was a vibrant young lady who had many, many friends and family who loved her. She was vibrant and strong and she was very good at what she did. She turned the world on with her smile,” Pazdur said, adding Gland’s death had been tough on her family.
At the start of the service, Forwalter quoted Psalm 90, about living to age 70.
“The problem comes when we don’t get our 70 years, especially when we lose someone young and vital like Nicole,” he said, adding her death came three days after Easter and its story of resurrection.
Her death was a tragedy that struck with shock and fear and left an overwhelming emptiness in the souls of her mourners, Forwalter said.
“We today will not let anger and violence touch the life of one we loved so deeply,” the pastor said, before playing “Let It Be” by the Beatles.
Through tears and sobs, several of Gland’s friends shared stories about trips to Indiana Beach, loyal friendships, and simply hanging out.
“You were like the sister I never had, and my heart is broken into a million pieces,” said one friend.
The stories were “wonderful,” Forwalter said, and her friends had to keep telling them. He added Nicole loved life, her family and friends, and made life better for all of them.
Gland valued hard work and taking care of others, he said.
“She also did what she was sent to do. She didn’t get to her 70 years but look what she did in her 23 years. Look at the people she touched,” he said. “We are all better people.”
Gland’s friends planned a candlelight vigil at Woodlawn Park after the funeral.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
