Angels of ’97 Ministries News

(October 2004)

We had a very successful meeting Thursday, October 21, 2004. It was wonderful to get to see everyone again. We all took turns telling stories about our children. We mentioned ways that we cope with our losses during the holidays. We got to met a new member last night and we got some more ideas together for the candlelight memorial service on December 3rd.

Julie Gaddy spoke about her daughter, Kate Gaddy. Wednesday, November 3rd Kate would have been 20 years old. We will all be thinking of Julie, her other daughter Rachel, and the rest of her family and friends on this tough day. Kate was a freshman at East Lincoln High School, she was a JV cheerleader who loved dance.

Jo Markham spoke of her son, Matt Markham. He was an avid swimmer who loved the water. A lot of our families remember him when he was a lifeguard at the Wedgewood subdivision pool. He was away at UNC Wilmington at the time of his accident on a jet-ski. December 1st will be the 6th anniversary of his death and we will have his parents, his brother Max, and their family in our prayers as well. The last time he had spent with his family was the week before on Thanksgiving so we realize this will be an especially hard time for the family. Matt's favorite color was orange so we have so many little things that remind of us him this time of year.

Our newest member just crossed our paths last night. She was actually coming to the church to pick something up and we got to talking and lucky for us she decided to stay for our meeting. Her name is E Barbara Wells and she spoke about her brother, Dean Wells who passed away from a car accident when he was 19. Dean was a local radio announcer years ago and was on his way to announce a baseball game when he had his accident. His birthday would have been the day before. One of the topics for discussion at the meeting was to find someone who could play the music at our Candlelight memorial service and we think there was a reason Ms. Wells, who is a Pianist/Organist just happened to stop by last night. :0) It was our pleasure to have her join our group.

Mary Franks spoke on behalf of two people last night. The first person we got to hear about was her daughter Gwen Stroud. Monday, Mary had played in a golf tournament at Finley golf course for the UNC Pharmacy School where Gwen was attending preceding her accident. Mary noticed a rock that her daughter's Kappa Psi fraternity group had placed in front of the dormitory and decided to go by the house and see how some of the brothers & sisters of her daughter’s fraternity were doing. That night "as if by chance" the fraternity had a group of new pledges and one of the first things they do is tell them about Gwen. Mary was lucky enough to be able to take part in this and say a few words about Gwen.

Mary also spoke on behalf of a dear friend, Ester who lost her son Danny to car accident when he was 18. October 21, 2004 marked the 7 year anniversary of his death and Mary asked that we keep their family in our prayers as they go through this hard time.

Our Angels Ministries Leader, Jane Bolton, was there to facilitate the meeting as well. Not only did she help us talk about our children and soothe us with prayer and guidance, but she also spoke about her daughter Laura Barnette. She brought up the little everyday things that make us think of our children. We spoke about how every time she sees a Sunflower she thinks of Laura, because they were her favorite flowers. Laura would be 26 this coming January the 9th and Jane spoke of how hard that is to believe. She also mentioned that she didn’t realize until recently that because of her own loss she never fully got to grieve over the loss of her very dear friend, Mandi. Since Laura & Mandi were such close friends, she was like a part of the family to Jane as well and she said some very wonderful things about Mandi.

We also mentioned more details for the Candlelight Memorial Service. We are trying to get some ideas on how we can spread the word to others to make that day a huge success. We also need to remind the parents to bring their children’s photos with them. We will have the memorial for the children that have been lost and someone will call out the names of the children as a bell is rang. We plan to give out some type of a memento, an angel souvenir of some sort as well. There were two songs that we plan to play: "Precious Child" and "I can only Imagine." If anyone has any ideas or comments or if you think of any parents that may want to be added to our mailing list please let us know. We strive to do what we can to help keep our children's memory alive and to have a strong "family" of guidance for others who may be in the same shoes we are.

I hope we can all benefit from the time that we share. We will continue to keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers.