Enterprise begins funerals for 8 high school students
ENTERPRISE, Ala. (BP)--At least four of the eight students killed by a tornado at Enterprise High School had ties to Southern Baptist churches, and those churches hosted funerals packed with mourners March 5 and 6 as disaster relief volunteers continued to minister in the storm-ravaged southeast Alabama community.
On Monday, Lance Hogan, pastor of First Baptist Church in Enterprise, led the funeral for 16-year-old Michelle Wilson. He quoted teachers who described her as an eager and appreciative student, the Associated Press reported, and he recalled her joyful smile.
“Everybody’s pretty much at that point of shock right now,” Hogan told The Alabama Baptist newsjournal. “We are embracing those who are grieving with a lot of the love of Christ. The community is leaning on each other. Our arms are linked together holding each other up.”
Mourners gathered at Open Door Baptist Church in Enterprise Tuesday morning to remember Mike Tompkins, 17, who had a heart for missions.
“He had been a real association-minded person, somebody who wanted to be involved in mission trips and other things,” John Granger, director of missions for the Coffee Baptist Association, said. “I probably was more familiar with him than any other [student who died] just because he had been on mission trips with us.”
Tompkins had participated in some Mobile-area trips the past couple of summers as Baptist volunteers led Bible clubs and sports camps.
“He was somebody who respected other people,” Granger said of Tompkins. “He was a very friendly person and everybody knew he was reaching out. Our mission trips sometimes have a little fun attached to them but also are things where we just go and share our faith and do ministry kinds of stuff. He wanted to do that and was very much involved.”
Tompkins’ father, Bill, was preparing to enter Iraq with the military when he learned his son had died. He left Kuwait immediately and returned home to be with his family. Five of the eight students have ties to Fort Rucker, a U.S. Army post which borders Enterprise.
Also on Tuesday, a joint funeral was held at Hillcrest Baptist Church for A.J. Jackson, 16, and his best friend, Ryan Mohler, 17. Jackson was the grandson of Joel Jackson, former director of missions for the Coffee Baptist Association.
Jackson reportedly saved a classmate’s life by holding up a concrete slab so that it wouldn’t fall on her and she could escape. He was found dead beneath that slab.
A funeral for Katie Strunk was held Monday at College Avenue Church of Christ in Enterprise, where her associate youth minister recounted a story from a recent winter retreat. The youth were scheduled to get up for team-building exercises at 8 a.m., Brendan Chaney said, but Katie got up at 4:30 to get a head start.
“She just got to heaven a little early also,” Chaney said at the funeral.
With more than 1,000 people packing the church for Strunk’s funeral, pastor Keith Ellis said the gathering was a testimony of her life’s purpose.
“How can a 16-year-old affect so many lives?” Ellis said, according to AP. “I believe it was her mission given by God.”
A crowd of 750 friends and family remembered Michael Bowen at a chapel at Fort Rucker on Monday, hearing that he attempted to save Strunk and was found with his arms around her beneath the rubble in the hallway of the school.
“Michael was a big guy with an even bigger heart,” Francisco Paulino, a student who survived the hallway destruction, told AP. “Even to the end he stuck to his values.”
Bowen, whose stepfather is based at Fort Rucker, attended Our Lady of Loretto Parish on base, AP said.
Funeral services for two other students, Peter Dunn and Jamie Vidensek, were pending.
Tommy Puckett, Alabama’s disaster relief coordinator, told The Alabama Baptist March 6 that a feeding unit and childcare unit have been activated for Enterprise starting Wednesday, and crews there are transitioning from cleanup and chainsaw work to repairing and rebuilding.
“The Enterprise area demonstrated community in helping one another just as good or better as anyone I’ve ever seen,” Puckett said. “They’re going to need some repairs on people’s houses. The key is going to be the availability of materials and who’s going to pay for them.”
A meeting of Baptist officials in nearby New Brockton was scheduled for Tuesday night in order to assess needs and develop disaster relief plans, Puckett said. Volunteers were setting up a headquarters at Westview Baptist Church in Enterprise.
Compiled by Erin Roach with reporting by Grace Thornton of The Alabama Baptist.
