LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.—In the entryway of the Festival of Arts gallery on Feb. 16, several hundred funeral attendees passed a well-used snowboard, scuba diving equipment, and photographs depicting memories of Dr. Michael John Mammone, 58, who was murdered while riding his bicycle along Pacific Coast Highway earlier this month.
“They say grief can be heavy at times, but that it becomes lighter when it is shared,” Austine Duru, chief mission integration officer at Providence Mission Hospital, told the mourners. “We are confident that [Mammone’s] legacy of love and compassion will live on.”
Also in the entryway, a dozen first responders standing at ease welcomed guests on behalf of Mammone, who was an emergency medicine doctor affiliated with hospitals including Providence Mission Hospital Laguna Beach.
It was just south of that location in neighboring Dana Point on Feb. 1 around 3 p.m. when the cycling Mammone was hit by a vehicle at the intersection of PCH and Crown Valley Parkway. The driver reportedly exited the car and stabbed Mammone until bystanders restrained him and police arrived, authorities said.
Mammone was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died, authorities said.
Vanroy Evan Smith, 39, of Long Beach, was arrested and later charged with murdering Mammone.
Further into the memorial service, Mammone’s older sister felt it fitting to share a poem for her brother titled “His Journey’s Just Begun” by Ellen Brenneman.
“Think of him as living, in the hearts of those he touched,” Lisa Mammone recited, softly sobbing into the microphone. “For nothing loved is ever lost, and he was loved so much.”
The open invitation to Mammone’s funeral left many attending to watch from overflow areas, as the 300 chairs set for the event quickly filled before the start of the service.
Mammone leaves behind his wife of 29 years, Julie, sons Nick and Jack, and hundreds of friends and colleagues from a medical career spanning decades.
“It’s just hard to comprehend that he’s gone. So soon, so tragic, and so unjust,” friend and former colleague Dr. Larry Potts of San Antonio Regional Medical Center told memorial attendees. “He was who you would want to take care of you if you were in suffering.”
Those with information involving the murder of Mammone are encouraged to immediately contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 714-288-6740.
“Your strong arms around me. The way you said my name Julie. I will miss this,” Julie Mammone said softly weeping as she concluded the funeral speeches. “All so tragic, taken away from us. We had so much left to do.”
Many in the audience were left sobbing as the service ended.
