Over the last three decades of newspapering, the blur of news is always overshadowed by the worst and most terrible of times in the timeline of my corner of the world. This week will go down as one of those.
At the same time, the overwhelming love that was shown to one of our own families, and those that love them, also brings tears to my eyes.
While the whole town was reeling a car was making its way to the home of classmates. Doing her duty, Officer Katlyn Schimerowski pulled the car over when she noticed that there was a headlight out. The driver, a high school student explained where he was going and why. Upon hearing the destination and the reason for the trip, Officer Schimerowski escorted the driver to his destination. That would be sweet of her, but she then returned delivering a stack of pizzas to the house which was brimming full of grieving classmates.
Following up on the rumor I confirmed the story with one of the parents of the driver and she said, "I don't know her, but could you tell her thank you so so much from our family. Also, we have the headlight fixed!"
The goodness didn't stop there.
As I skimmed Facebook last week, I saw the West Marshall football team who played our Vikings was being mentioned multiple times. West Marshall showed class that is rarely seen. I doubt any of us know a single member of the team. Shawna Kurth a youth leader at Blessed Hope Community Church who has been invested in the lives of our teens in the community and especially this past week said in her Facebook post, "After the unexpected death of a classmate a little over 24 hours ago, these VS students (football players, band members, and cheerleaders) stepped onto the Vinton/Shellsburg football field tonight to pay their respects in a way Mike would have wanted.... to play a competitive game of ball. After players from the opposing West Marshall presented our team and cheerleaders with yellow roses, our boys proceeded to lay their hearts out on the field. They played with grit and determination. They fought hard. Their hearts are broken yet they played clean and gave their all. I could not be more proud of them.
Photo Courtesy of Marcia Fisher
Our boys were asked to play through unimaginable circumstances....Asked to play through their pain to help unite our school, asked to help heal hearts through football. Man, that�s an awful lot to ask of 15,16,17 year old boys... boys who are struggling themselves to make sense of the tragic loss of their good friend ......Yet they did so with integrity and pride. I will say it again..... I simply could not be more proud of these boys that I had the privilege to pray with and for earlier today.
At the end of the game, both teams came together in the middle of the field, all took a knee and in unity prayed together. West Marshall then formed a circle around our players and shook the hands of each and every player on our team. This may have been the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life. While this day has been awful there has been beauty in unexpected places.
Photo Courtesy of Kelli McClintock
Please continue to pray for our students, their families, our teachers, our community and most importantly the Betterton family as they grieve the loss of their beloved Mikey. We are all hurting so but thankful for the love and kindness West Marshall offered our community tonight.
Video of the Post Game Prayer
While we shake our heads and try to understand the whys, the reaction is the same with these stories. We shake our head and have no words to really say how these deeds of kindness get us right in the heart. As hard as we try, there is no way to say thank you enough to those that reached out with these kind gestures, but thank you.
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