Community gathers to remember crash victims
Hundreds turn out for memorial service
by Deb SaineFor the Pharos-Tribune
MONTICELLO — They will be missed, said Dr. Thomas Fletcher, superintendent of Twin Lakes Community School Corporation.According to Fletcher, 10-year-old Tyler Geiger was a “very special kid with a contagious smile,” while 10-year-old Trevor Ingram was “the little gentleman who loved to help other kids.” Trevor’s best friend, 9-year-old Kale Seabolt, “loved to recycle ... and understood the environment,” and 5-year-old Lauren Melin was “a spitfire of a kid with a mind of her own.” The four youngsters were remembered during a memorial service Monday evening in the gymnasium of Twin Lakes High School. They were killed Friday afternoon when their bus was struck by two different dump trucks on U.S. 24 near Lake Cicott in Cass County.Bus driver Debbie DuVall, 46, was flown via Lifeline Helicopter from the scene to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, where she was listed in serious condition.School board President John Roscka said Duvall suffered a broken right arm, multiple broken ribs and a collapsed lung.“She is doing well, but is very emotionally distraught,” he said.Fletcher said the first question DuVall asked was, “How are my kids?”About 2,000 people from this town of less than 6,000 attended the service.“This is a start,” said Jessica Bondarevich, a substitute teacher who knew Tyler. “But it is only an hour and it will take a lifetime of pain and sadness to get over this.”It was an evening of remembrance and reflection, Fletcher said.“God, we need your help,” Pastor Mearl Hodges prayed. “Some of our hearts are broken and some of our hearts are shattered.”“The entire community has been deeply affected ... and we want to do something, but we don’t know what,” said Pastor Brian Beeks. “Few really know what it’s like to lose a child.”Beeks said that he’d been asked the same two questions in a variety of ways over the past weekend: Why? and What if?“‘Why’ I try not to answer but say it’s OK to ask the question ... because it’s part of the journey of grief,” he said, adding that it was important to remember those special gifts like “a contagious smile” and to be thankful that the world was made a better place because of Tyler, Trevor, Kale and Lauren.Beeks also said he’d been asked, “What if? What if the bus had been going a little faster or had stopped at a red light a little longer ... The ‘whys’ and ‘what ifs’ are part of the grieving process.”Ryan Bailey, a French teacher and a minister, said that educators are responsible for the learning of others and are supposed to have all the answers.“But we find ourselves with nothing but questions,” he said. “This is a heartbreaking loss that we have no answers for. There’s no textbook or staff manual.”He said, “Let’s work together and by the Grace of God, we’ll figure it out, but we can never hope to have every answer to questions students ask.”Those who came all had been touched by the tragedy, resident Julie Gutwein said.“If you’re a grandmother, a mother, a neighbor, it’s everyone’s loss,” she said.Melissia Ingram, Trevor Ingram’s aunt, said earlier that her family was relying on one another’s inner strength to find their way through a difficult time.“Our family is very close and we’re all staying together and comforting each other,” she said. “The hours we’re spending together have been spent remembering Trevor. The things we remember the most is his laughter, his smile and his gorgeous eyes. He had big blue eyes that just sparkled.”Ingram and her family liked the idea of a communitywide memorial service.“It allows all the other parents of the entire community to help all the other children who don’t understand this to be able to get through this tragedy and let the community come together as one,” she said.The school community needed a memorial service for its own healing, Roscka said.“It’s just something that Dr. Fletcher and I decided we needed to do,” he said. “We wanted to have the opportunity to have a place for the community to gather and pay their respects to the families and show their support.”On short notice, area church leaders were able to pull each other and congregations together for the effort, Fletcher said.“We have lost four family members and they will be fondly remembered and missed,” Fletcher said. “It is during such times that we experience the importance of a caring, thoughtful community.”The school corporation was to collect donations at the service and at its central office to be divided among the four families.“It’s a terrible tragedy and something that’s going to be in my mind and head forever,” Roscka said. “The best thing there is for us to be is to be there for them and be supportive.”
