Acton houses of worship offer space and solace after teens’ fatal crash
“We are praying for all those who loved these students, and we are praying for you as you grieve.”
As residents of Acton and Carlisle struggle with the loss of three high school students following an April 21 highway crash in Florida, the town’s faith communities are doing their best to offer comfort and support.
“We know many of you are close with the families of Hannah Wasserman, Jimmy McIntosh, and Maisey O’Donnell, and that many of our teens have grown up with them,” associate minister Rev. Martha Schick and senior minister Rev. Rebecca Floyd Marshall of the Trinitarian Congregational Church said in a joint email to community members. “We are praying for all those who loved these students, and we are praying for you as you grieve.”
The CCHS seniors were involved in a crash last Monday night on Highway 98 near Inlet Beach in the western Florida panhandle. Police said the teens collided with a tractor-trailer that was making a U-turn in the highway’s paved median. McIntosh and Wasserman died at the scene, and O’Donnell succumbed to her injuries the following day. A fourth student remains in intensive care.
“Our faith does not give us easy answers in the face of tragedy,” Schick and Marshall said. “We cannot explain away why so many die too soon. We cannot make sense of what is, at its core, senseless.”
TriCon Church communications director Amy Bruning said many families in the congregation are close friends with the victims, their parents, and their siblings.
In addition to the email from church leaders, Schick, who works with high school students as an associate minister, offered to sit with anyone who needed support via social media.
Several teens took her up on the offer.
Schick “will continue to be available in the coming weeks, expecting it will be even harder for everyone after school resumes on Monday,” Bruning said.
‘We are all touched’
Julissica Navarro-Norton, the pastoral associate in training at Holy Family, said one of the four families is a parishioner at the church. The chapel is open for anyone who needs space to pray, she said.
A parish nurse, Jean Gifford, is also available to provide support. In the days immediately following the accident, Navarro-Norton said 19 people came to the church seeking community and comfort.
The youth minister, Tony Carbrello, has also contacted church families.
“We’re just here to support the community,” Navarro-Norton said.
Rev. Hannah Brown at West Acton Union Church said she wasn’t aware of any direct connection between the congregation and the crash victims and, as of April 25, wasn’t planning any special devotional services.
Still, she said, “We are all touched by this tragic loss.”
Trinity Episcopal Church Rev. Nancy Hagner said schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter was providing resources to families.
Hagner, who serves as that church’s rector, referred The Acton Bridge to Hunter but said, “The clergy in our community will care for families that are directly or indirectly affected in our specific congregations.”
A traditional prayer
Kerem Shalom president David Luberoff said the incident was “absolutely devastating.”
Luberoff said Rabbi Darby Leigh has been in touch with Hunter to offer his condolences on behalf of Kerem Shalom.
While none of the involved students or families were directly connected to the congregation, Leigh said the community was “ready to support members and others touched by this awful tragedy.”
Luberoff said Leigh would reiterate his message to members and guests during Shabbat services on April 25 immediately before the congregation recited the traditional Mourner’s Kaddish.
