The Garden City Telegram
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Grieving process begins for town
Published 3/29/2008 in News : Area coverage
By RACHEL DAVIS
rdavis@gctelegram.com
"Our hearts grieve with yours."
The words on a white sign posted in front of Pleasant Valley Mercantile in Ulysses by Nancy Woods, who helps run the shop, show how Woods felt about the loss of four students Thursday in a car crash, Woods said.
"It's hard losing one and then losing four with the possibility of five -- we are all distraught," she said. "It's like the whole community is in disbelief. You just feel helpless."
Woods said she drove past the accident, involving a 2007 Kenworth semitrailer and a 1991 Ford Taurus, Thursday afternoon, but had no idea it had claimed the lives of four high school sophomores.
In the car were Jennifer Longfellow, 16, Victoria Dowell, 16, Myranda Mason, 16, Julia Alcala, 16, and Veronika McDaniel, 15. Longfellow is the only survivor.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol report, Longfellow was driving south on Stubbs Road when she failed to yield to traffic and was struck by an eastbound semitrailer. The driver of the semitrailer, Vincent M. Sauer Jr., 64, Dodge City, was not injured.
Standing behind the jewelry counter, Woods, who also is a school board member, said the community is devastated.
"We are all very sad," she said. "The only way for us to heal is to make a conscious decision every day to live and remember who these girls were. In doing this, we honor them."
A few miles from Woods' business, on Main Street, Julie Moral was busy at the Tiger Lily, a floral and gift shop with coffee bar, taking orders for prom, which is April 5, and for the funerals.
Moral, who has three teens in high school, said it's hard for youth to understand the finality of what has happened.
"There are 115 kids in the class and four are gone," she said. "That's hard for anyone to grasp, especially kids."
Lisa Southern, program director for Area Mental Health Center in Garden City, said staff members, along with members of the Ministerial Alliance and members of the St. Catherine Hospital debriefing team, are helping provide grief counseling to students, family, friends and the town of Ulysses.
Southern said as with any tragedy, the grieving process takes time.
"It's so easy to point the finger and blame someone for what happened," she said. "But it's not the right thing to do."
Southern said keeping a routine like going to work, or eating three meals a day helps someone cope with what has happened. She said people should try to keep going and make things as normal as possible.
Moral, who owns the Grant County Gazette, said other southwest Kansas towns are showing support for the community.
She said the Tiger Lily has received flowers from Larned, Nickerson and Moscow.
And the kids are coming together, too.
Moral said students planned a candlelight vigil Friday night at the accident site to remember their classmates and to pray for the families.
"Everybody's heart hurts," she said. "But we are finding comfort in the support of so many people, even the ones we have never met."
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