Schrock, Jerrill (2000-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Nov 14 p. 1, 7

Birth date: 2000

text of obituary:

Crash in Washington claims lives of 5 siblings

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

SPOKANE, Wash. — Five children from a conservative Mennonite family died in a head-on crash on a Washington highway Nov. 1, galvanizing their close-knit community with grief as they sough comfort in their faith.

Meanwhile, the mother of the five children, who was not in the accident, is only weeks away from giving birth to another child.

According to news reports, the children were southbound in an extended cab pickup driven on U.S. 395 by their father, Jeff Schrock, 38, of Chewelah. A northbound vehicle, driven by Clifford Helm of Deer Park, crossed the grassy median and collided with the Schrock vehicle.

Pronounced dead at the scene were Schrock children Carmen, 12; Jana, 10; Corina [sic], 8; Jerrill, 5; and Creig, 2. All were wearing safety belts, according to investigators.

Helm, who police said had several traffic infractions on his record, also was hospitalized with less serious injuries. Alcohol and drugs were not believed to be factors in the crash.

Reports said Jeff Schrock's wife, Carolyn, had gone shopping in Spokane and that the family was on their way to meet her when the accident occurred around 4:20 p.m. Carolyn Schrock, who is eight months pregnant, was taken to the hospital after the crash, where she learned her children had been killed.

The Schrocks are members of the Pine Grove Mennonite Church in Chewelah, a congregation in the independent Western Conservative Fellowship. They moved to Washington state in 1997 from another congregation near Eugene, ore.

Jeff Schrock runs a furniture-making business near Chewelah.

Members of the Schrocks' church, meanwhile, were preparing for the children's funeral, which was to be held Nov. 7. More than 800 people were expected to attend.

Though church members were heartbroken over the family's tragedy, some said they were relying on their faith to bring hope to an otherwise grim situation.

They also expressed forgiveness and concern for Helm, the driver of the other vehicle.

On Nov. 2, the Schrock family released a statement about the tragedy, thanking their friends and emergency personnel who responded to the crash, which authorities said was the worst in memory in the Spokane region.

"Your prayers and expressions of love have been a wonderful support to us," the statement said. "We thank God for his l9ove and unlimited grace and strength sustaining us. 'He hath loved thee with an everlasting love' (Jer. 31;3). And 'Underneath are the everlasting arms' (Deut. 33:27).

"Yet even while we struggle to understand and cope with the pain and magnitude of our own loss, our hearts go out in compassion for the driver of the other vehicle and his family. We pray that god's physical, emotional, and spiritual healing power be evident in their lives."

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Nov 21 p. 1, 10

text of obituary:

1,500 attend funeral for five killed in crash

Forgiveness shown to other driver

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

CHEWELAH, Wash. — The quiet scene outside Jeff and Carolyn Schrock's home seemed to crystallize everything the family had lost in the previous week. there in the yard, according to a relative, were all the reminders of the five children who no longer lived there — toys, tricycles, a swing set, even a lonesome dog.

"The house was locked, but outside, you could see so many signs of children," recalled Carmen Schrock-Hurst of Harrisonburg, Va., a cousin to Jeff Schrock. "How on Earth will these parents ever be able to go back into this empty house? I cannot imagine the many layers of memories they have to unpack and sort through."

Schrock-Hurst and nearly 1,500 other people had gathered Nov. 7 for the funeral of the five Schrock children — Carmen, 12; Jana, 10; Carrina, 8; Jerrill, 5; and Creig, 2.

The children were killed around 4:20 p.m. Nov. 1 when their father's pickup, headed south on U.S. Highway 395 near Spokane, collided head-on with a northbound truck driven by Clifford Helm of Deer Park. Helm's vehicle had crossed the grassy median and, for reasons still unexplained, had driven the wrong way for more than 1,200 feed before the collision.

Jeff, Schrock, 38, was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to Sacred heart Hospital in Spokane, where Helm, 55, also is recovering. The children, all of whom wore seat belts, are believed to have died instantly, though one passerby told authorities he reached one of the children while she was still breathing and tried to help. Gravely injured, the girl quickly died, the motorist said.

The children's mother, Carolyn, 32 — who is due to deliver the couple's sixth child in December — was waiting for her family to pick her up in Spokane after a shopping trip.

She was informed of her children's deaths only after authorities had taken her to the hospital where her husband lay clinging to his own survival.

■

On Nov. 5, Carolyn Schrock visited Helm in his hospital room, where she expressed her family's forgiveness and concern for the welfare of the man many in the region have held responsible for one of the worst highway wrecks in recent memory. church members said the Schrock family had heard that people were disparaging Helm, and wanted to send the public a different message.

"There is also another family who is sorrowing today, perhaps from a different perspective, but their chasm is great, too." the Schrock family said in a statement. "We met the Helm family . . . and had a meaningful time. It was as if we were seeing into Sandy and Cliff's souls. We saw their acceptance of proffered forgiveness and their expression of release from the thing that held them. it is a very special memory.

"There were some hard things said of the Helm family that were not from us. We feel and pray for them. Love builds bridges. Hate digs graves. May the seeds of love and forgiveness that have been planted this day grow and the leaves be for our healing."

Meanwhile, at the site of the wreck, someone had set out two flower arrangements with the word "forgiveness" on a ribbon between them, according to news reports.

■

The deaths galvanized the Schrocks' faith community, centered on Chewelah's small Pine Grove Mennonite Church, part of the independent Western Conservative Fellowship. The Schrocks had moved to Washington form Oregon a few years ago to help the new congregation prosper. They run a furniture-making business nearby.

According to Schrock-Hurst — whose uncle is Jeff Schrock's father, Jason — the funeral for the five Schrock children was an emotional, faith - filled gathering that attracted a variety of people touched by the family's tragedy.

The initial service — which Jeff Schrock was able to attend with the help of a medical crew — was held in Calvary chapel, a large Spokane church. Afterward, mourners drove the hour's journey to the Chewelah church, where the Schrock children, buried in a single grave, were the first to be laid to rest in the congregation's cemetery.

"Perhaps the most vivid memory for me [was] sitting at the funeral watching the procession." Schrock-Hurst said. "After the service, which was an hour and 20 minutes, they had everyone walk past the open caskets, all 1,500 people. It took an hour. . . .

"It was just so amazing to see so many different kinds of Mennonites and Russian immigrants in their scarves, and Amish and Shriners in their uniforms and paramedics in their uniforms . . . and so many, many children."

Schrock-Hurst said total strangers expressed condolences when they met other members of the Schrocks' plain-dressed church and offered everything from money to help securing motel rooms for out-of-town visitors.

"The firm faith in the providence of god and God's ability to make something good out of this tragedy will see these people through," Schrock-Hurst said.