Relay For Life Team Honors Slain Friend

The fake chicken, made from a yellow plastic cup decorated with feathers and plastic eyes, is silly to look at and makes you either cringe or laugh. Mary Ellen Welsh was one of those people who laughed at the fake chicken. She got a huge kick out of it, Carol Reed, a longtime friend of Welsh, recalled during a recent gathering to prepare for an event they hope will memorialize Welsh and raise money for a cause that was close to her heart.

With Welsh, who was brutally killed following a home invasion in New Britain on March 30, foremost in their minds, the chicken is one of the items the team of 19 will be selling at a Relay for Life event this weekend in Southington. Team Mary Ellen will also participate in the walk, which will raise money for cancer research. Welsh, who was 62, was a cancer patient. Leslie Williams, a convicted sex offender, is accused of abducting Welsh from a friend's house in New Britain, raping and killing her, and leaving her body in a sand pit in Bristol. Williams, 31, is facing murder and other charges in Welsh's death that could put him on death row. Police said he barged into the home of Welsh's friend, Carol Larese, shot her, and then kidnapped Welsh. In addition to the fake chicken, participants at this weekend's walk can also buy more conventional items, such as pins with Welsh's picture and hats. But the plastic chicken is special, Reed said, because the pleasure Welsh got out of the silly toy represents the fun-loving person she was. 'Mary Ellen was our party in a box,' said Reed, of New Britain. The plastic chicken is also a way of remembering Welsh as the happy, caring woman who was always ready to help someone or make them laugh, rather than the way she died.