Saturday, August 11, 2007 our friend Dan was killed at his and Courtney's home on the North side of the city. It crushed us all, his neighbors, friends and fellow SLU alums. It has devastated his family, including Courtney, his siblings, his parents, Courtney's siblings, their nieces and nephews and their closest friends Tony and Julie. It remains unsolved. The wake and funeral were terribly sad, but also wonderfully carried out by people who took time from their own grief to help out, or people who might have only known the grieving family peripherally but who just felt that helping out was the right thing to do. More distant friends sent money to cover costs of food for the funeral luncheon, sent money in Dan's name to a trust that will cover (hopefully) the costs of others continuing Dan's work for a long, long time, and sent their best wishes from all over the country and the world. There was a condolence notice sent from the United Nations office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mark Chmiel gave a beautiful, sad reflection at the funeral that is posted here.
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Four days later, a 22 year old St. Louis police officer was shot and killed in North City and a 15 year old has subsequently been arrested for the murder. The young officer was from the area he was patrolling and had requested to be assigned there so that he could be a "role model" for youth in his home neighborhood. His photo looks like the face of a child with his dad's uniform and oversized police hat. It is said that the 15 year old planned to kill a cop, any cop would do and so he got a gun and did just that.
Finally, 24 hours after Officer Brown's death, St. Alphonsus Rock church burned after being struck by lightning. It is a St. Louis city institution, a Catholic church but important to many besides Catholics. Its an African-American parish, known for epic services that include dancing in the aisles, a gospel choir, tourists and visitors from all over St. Louis and the Midwest, and its incredible neighborhood outreach programs. The photos of "before" are beautiful, and the word now is that the church can be rebuilt. A drive by it shows the roof nearly completely missing, with some burnt wood protruding from what now appears to be a football-field long "skylight" at the top of the church. Very likely, its age (135+) will be its saving grace, as old construction here and in Europe has proven to be superior in withstanding flood, war, and fire to anything built today. Also, the people who love the church and make it function are resilient and still had services this past Sunday in an adjacent gym.
In 6 days, three very significant losses hit our city. It was a very bad week.
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