Bathurst tragedy recalled
By Patricia Drummond
The bilingual ecumenical funeral service for the seven Bathurst basketball players killed in a car accident in January was the most amazing demonstration of a community coming together to support
and do their very best for one another that I have ever witnessed. Some 6,000 attended, filling the arena and spilling over into the French high school (Ecole Secondaire Nepisiquit) across the street. Everything –– from the city's provision of red and black carpeting, hangings and other things for the rink to reflect the team's colours, to the community choir, to the work of the funeral home, to the provisions made for the comfort of the families and the clergy –– was amazing.
The tragedy dawned for me on Saturday morning, Jan. 5, when the beside phone rang at 7 ‘clock. My heart did a somersault. I thought, “Something's happened, and it must be bad.”
One of my wardens was on the other end of the line. It was bad.
"Has anyone called you?" he asked.
No one had.
"They will. I thought I'd warn you first. There's been a highway accident. The high school basketball team. There are some dead."
The Parish of New Bandon is on the outskirts of Bathurst, and stretches for some 40 kilometers along the Bay of Chaleur. Ours is an Anglophone parish and our youth are bussed to Bathurst High School. We have a small active youth group (six of high school age) and a number of high school teachers in our congregation, two of them on the crisis response team.
None of our youth played on the basketball team, but they knew the boys who died well. They had been in classes with them. The teachers had taught or were presently teaching them. One other teacher had taught them as elementary students. The community was in shock.
We had planned a parish games night – a social occasion – for that evening. The youth group leader, the mother of a high school student, called. "Should we cancel?" she asked.
We decided to change the sign outside the church to read "Prayers at 8 p.m." instead of games. There was little more the church could do until then, for the high school was well organized and a team of counselors was in place. Practical support was offered to some of the teachers. In one case parishioners (relatives) babysat a family of four young children all day while their parents were at the school.
That evening a small group gathered in the choir stalls at St Alban's Church. We talked. We prayed. And we played music. I had recently acquired a new Celtic worship CD, "Live form Ireland." Brian Doerkson's track, 'You Surround Me,' and Kathryn Scott's 'Heaven is our Home,' seemed particularly appropriate. No deep theology was needed. What was wanted was a time to be together, to reflect, to remember (sometimes with laughter) and to support one another in grief.
At our Sunday service the next day, we spent the first ten minutes or so doing much the same thing, and then we continued with the usual Eucharist.
The Bathurst and Area Ministerial Association meets every month for lunch and to hear a speaker or discuss issues relevant to ministry. Because of these meetings, most of the clergy assembled at the funeral the next Wednesday knew one another. Our Bishop Claude Miller, himself a BHS graduate, was in attendance as was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bathurst, the Most Rev. Valery Vienneau. The service was planned by Father Greg Culligan (Roman Catholic) and the Rev. Keith Adams (United Church), who reflected the denominations of the deceased.
The funeral was moving, inspirational and allowed time for both the families and the students to pay tribute to the 'boys in red' who had been lost, as well as to offer support to one another, to the injured and to the team coach.
The funeral for the coach’s wife and a well-loved teacher, Beth Lord, was held the next day at First United Church.
This tragedy will be remembered for years in this community, but the community spirit shown and the outpouring of faith seen at the service will strengthen the community as it comes to terms with the unimaginable. Those killed will be remembered in the hearts of those who knew them, or were related to them, for their whole lifetimes.
Rest in peace Javier, Codey, Nathan, Justin, Daniel, Nicholas and Nickolas. Rest in peace Beth.
Archdeacon Patricia Drummond is rector of the parish of New Bandon.
Diocesan Communications
26 February 2008
