There were good-byes Thursday afternoon for an Omaha store clerk shot to death by robbers. 42-year-old Laura Pierce was killed in the early morning hours of January second, after two armed men demanded cash at the Kwik Shop near 33rd and Q Street where she worked.

"Little did she know that she would touch so many people's lives in a way they would never forget. She had hopes and dreams as big as mountains," says Sue Johnson, friend and Stephen Pastor at Thanksgiving Lutheran Church.

Those hopes on Thursday though were left to just marks on a piece of paper, part of a beautiful speech remembering Pierce. Her dreams will only live on in the memories of those who knew and loved her.

"She wasn't afraid to cry and she loved to laugh and one of her heart's desires was to be home with her family," adds Johnson.

In the end, she will go home to Falls City. It's where she'll be buried. Not in Omaha, a place her uncle says Laura grew to fear.

"Frankly, she was just getting afraid to live in Omaha because crime and things were getting so bad up here that she was kind of afraid to live up here by herself," says Ken Capps, Laura's Uncle.

And for Laura, on January second, she found out too late that fear was justified. Two armed robbers entered the Kwik Shop where Laura was an assistant manager. She handed over the money but was shot and killed anyway.

"It was an unnecessary thing to do. She was a kind-hearted, good person. There was no reason to do that," says friend Carolann Valverde.

Laura's uncle adds a message to the killers. "Turn yourselves in please, do the right thing."

Laura's family is holding a prayer vigil for Laura this Sunday, January 11th, at 6 p.m. Anyone is invited to attend. It will be at the Kwik Shop where Laura was killed near 33rd and Q Street.

Kwik shop is offering a $25,000 reward that leads to an arrest. If you know anything, call police at (402) 444-7867.