HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Brett Harriman remembers Valentyna Kram during her memorial service Sunday. HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Bo Nilsson is consoled by attendees at the memorial service held Sunday for his late wife, Valentyna Kram. Advertisement

Photographs of a beautiful, smiling, Valentyna Kram were mounted at the front of the Pahrump Community Library room where her memorial was held on Sunday. Below the pictures was printed, "An angel on earth, an angel in heaven."

Fram was 54 when she was killed during a robbery where she worked Dec. 28. The search for her alleged killer continues.

Brett Harriman, a close friend of Kram and her husband Bo Nilsson, welcomed the more than 60 people who filled the room.

"Valentyna would be happy to know that so many of her friends came here today," he said. "We will always have her memory to keep in our hearts. She's here with us in spirit."

Harriman briefly told of Kram's life behind the Iron Curtain, where she was an engineer living about 250 miles southeast of Kiev. He said her credentials were not valid in the United States, which is why she was working at the convenience store at the time of her death.

Harriman said he became friends with Nilsson 22 years ago when he was traveling in Europe, and even then it was Nilsson's dream to emigrate to the U.S. Nilsson moved to Las Vegas where Harriman's family lived and then followed Harriman to Pahrump 12 years ago.

"My family wondered, 'How do we get rid of this guy?'" Harriman said in jest, adding, "I consider him a brother."

In July 2006, Nilsson was accepted as a U.S. citizen and met Kram at the swearing in ceremony in Las Vegas.

"He came back to Pahrump gushing about this fantastic woman he met at the ceremony," said Harriman. "When Bo said she even liked his Geo Metro, we knew she was perfect for him."

It was also pointed out that friends of Nilsson know him as "pennywise," and Kram, according to Harriman, "knew the value of a dollar due to her upbringing in the Ukraine.

"Bo and Valentyna were soulmates," said Harriman. He said Nilsson told him, "This is too good to be true."

Reference Librarian Vivianne Owen also spoke. She remembered Nilsson when he first became a security officer at the library. "He first came to work for us in our old location," she said. "With his Swedish accent, we couldn't understand a word he said. We can understand him better now."

Owen read a poem that she penned for the occasion, and Psalm 23 was read by family friend Maria Welch.

Kram was allegedly shot and killed by Pahrump resident, Jaime Albarran, 22, who took about $150 from the cash register at the DC Travel Center convenience store at the corner of Mesquite Avenue and Highway 160, where Kram worked as a clerk.

Kram will be interned in the Ukraine, near her family.