At vigil, Vt. town prays and sings for missing grandmother and puzzles over her abduction

Vt. town holds vigil for abducted grandmother

SHEFFIELD, Vt. — With songs, poems, prayers and candles, a Vermont town has gathered to keep hope alive for a missing 78-year-old woman abducted from her home nearly two weeks ago.

About 150 people turned out Thursday in tiny Sheffield for a candlelight vigil for Pat O’Hagan, a widow who was reported missing Sept. 11. Police believe she was abducted.

Writer Galway Kinnell read a Yeats poem, vigil organizer Eleanor Dole implored townspeople to keep an eye out for each other and a teenage flutist played “Amazing Grace,” leading the crowd — including O’Hagan’s five adult children — in a somber sing-along.