Father of 4 killed in theater shooting remembered at memorial

DENVER — Wednesday, the first of the funerals began for the victims of the Aurora theater shooting.

A memorial service for Gordon Cowden was held at Pathways Church in Denver.

At 51, Cowden was the oldest of the victims.  He took two of his teenage daughters to the midnight show.

They made it out alright, but he did not.

Crowds of people showed up at his service, including the Aurora Police Chief and the Governor.

The appraiser from Aurora leaves behind four children: Weston, Kristian, Brooke and Cierra.

They had a lot of support at the memorial. “He was a great dad,” said family friend Irene Zimmer. “An absolute tragedy,” she said.

The service included a slide show, and one of Cowden’s daughterS read a letter to him.

“It was very sad, but it was also very uplifting,” said Anna Skarbowski, a friend of Weston’s.

Cowden is originally from Texas.  A second service will be held there on Friday.