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| Overflow crowd at memorial service |
Jessica Goode is shown in a photo from her Facebook page. |
Thursday, November 19, 2009
By JOEL TURNER - Franklin News-Post
FERRUM — Death is felt deeply at a small college such as Ferrum, which has 1,200 students and most of them know each other — if not by name, at least by face.
That is why Tuesday’s shooting death of Jessica Goode affected many of Ferrum College’s students, professors and other staff members in a personal way.
The news that Goode, a senior from Winchester, had been shot and killed in a hunting incident swept across the Ferrum campus rapidly Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of students and staff filled Vaughn Chapel on Wednesday to grieve her death and to celebrate her life.
Dozens of students had to stand along the back wall in the chapel for the memorial service because all seats were taken.
Many students hugged one another and talked about Goode. Some students cried.
“We are together in grief. We have to come together to share and celebrate Jessica’s life,” said the Rev. C. Wesley Astin Jr., dean of the chapel and religious life at Ferrum.
Alluding to 23-year-old Goode’s youth, Astin said “expectations have vanished and the mystery of death has stricken us.”
Dr. Jennifer Braaten, Ferrum’s president, asked the students and staff to remember this “beautiful woman and student.”
As the Ferrum community grieves over Goode’s death, she said, “we are trying to make sense out of what seems so senseless.”
Braaten said she has talked with Goode’s parents and minister.
“They say she loved Ferrum College and her friends. She appreciated all they had done for her,” Braaten said.
Several students and professors remembered Goode, describing her as energetic, spontaneous, strong-willed, courageous and a lover of nature and the outdoors.
“I can’t believe she is not here with us. But she is here with us in spirit,” said one student.
Several students and professors said they will never forget Goode and her passion for life.
“We come to celebrate her life and what she was,” Astin said.
The memorial service ended with silence and the singing of the Lord’s Prayer.
Then, as a form of a benediction, Astin read Goode’s last posting on her Facebook page. It said: “Study hard, work out hard, play hard, for the rest of time.” |
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