Campus community provides support Friday afternoon brought tragedy for the ACU community. A group of students who planned to spend the weekend together in Medina building playgrounds instead spent it scattered throughout four West Texas hospitals. Not everyone on campus knows the 12 students, three faculty and one faculty spouse involved. We cannot feel the physical or emotional affliction of those who survived the accident. We cannot know the pain that penetrates the souls of Anabel Reid’s friends. But their sadness permeates our lives and our campus. Within hours of the accident, the Beauchamp Amphitheater overflowed with more than 1,000 people who wanted to be together to pray for those hurting. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and strangers held hands and prayed for the victims and for each other. Our first instinct was to immerse ourselves in community and prayer. It felt natural. No one who went to the amphitheater Friday night understands why our friends’ mission trip was ended by a collision with a concrete culvert. No one who spent last night waiting in a hospital lobby or by a telephone understands why so many spirits and bodies were broken. And not one of Anabel’s parents, family members or friends understands why they now are remembering a life cut short at just 19 years. The only fragment of this tragedy we can begin to comprehend is our role in the healing process. We need to be the comfort, the encouragement and – when the time comes – the help to heal. We must offer our unassuming presence as our purest form of support.
Our Hearts are Heavy
This role is not foreign to the ACU community. In times of heartache we congregate. Wrapped in each other’s arms we get to our feet. We dry each other’s tears and turn our faces to God. We mourn the loss of Anabel, a young woman whose character filled that comforting role so well. Friends say simply her company in a room was a calming presence. No words were necessary. No actions were needed. Still, as we weep for Anabel, we rejoice in the 15 that are recovering. These emotions, though drastically different, saturate our campus. Our mood is heavy but hoping. Optimist Editorial Board
Photo: Mandy Lambright
vol. 100, no. 21
Monday, November 7, 2011
Special SECTION, 8 PAGES
Photos by Daniel Gomez Chief Photographer
Left: pieces of personal luggage and belongings lay scattered on the side of the road after the accident. Right: The mangled front end of the bus carrying 16 ACU Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science students and faculty members lies on the side of the road after careening into a culvert. Opposite: Members of the Texas Department of Public Safety survey the scene of the accident.
Tragedy struck as faculty, students traveled to serve samantha sutherland ellen smith Early Friday afternoon, a group of 12 ACU students, three faculty and one spouse from the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science gathered at the Zona Luce Building to prepare for a mission trip to Medina. Some, like Amanda Wilson, were veterans of the trip. Others, like Jason Iris, had never been. Wilson, junior animal science major from Altaloma, Calif., was readying for her third visit to Medina’s Children’s home, where in years past, the group had volunteered. The group began loading at 1:40 p.m., but the 2
could remember was seeing the ceiling of the bus coming toward him and feeling as if he would not survive. He blacked out for the rest of the accident. The force of the initial impact of the culvert on the bus pushed Wilson against the window behind her as the bus tilted. When the bus began to roll, she flew forward onto the floor of the aisle. She glanced out the win- She grabbed onto the bars bus never filled to capacity. Thrown Forward dow and saw the bus head- underneath seat across from Many students had called Iris sat in the row direct- ing for the bar ditch on the her and held on tightly until last-minute to cancel because of school or work ly in front of Anabel Reid, right. She didn’t worry. When the bus completed a full roconflicts. The group prayed, sophomore environmental she realized the bus had tation and skidded to a stop. “I just remember telling and at 2 p.m. the bus de- sciences major from Pe- lost control, she assumed it parted, heading south with tersburg, and Tiffany Lutz, would run up an embank- myself over and over again senior animal science ma- ment or stop in a hole at to stay conscious and to hold its 16 passengers. Amanda Wilson took a jor from Zelienople, Penn. worst. It was then that she on to the seat,” Wilson said. seat in the second row on He was reading a book and saw the concrete culvert diAssessing the Damage the right side of the bus; chiming in and out of oth- rectly ahead of them. Before the bus could reIris, senior environmental ers’ conversations. As he felt Dr. Michael Nicodemus, science major from South- the bus go over a few bumps turn to the road, it struck hamton, Bermuda, sat fur- in the road, he looked up to the culvert. The impact assistant professor of agripropelled the bus end-over- culture and environmental see what was happening. ther back on the left. He saw the bus had drift- end as it careened across sciences, who was driving Wilson said the bus was buzzing with lively con- ed to the right and waited County Road 234. It landed the shuttle bus, and Dr. Jim versation and ringing with for it to pull back on to the on its wheels in the middle Cooke, professor of agriof the highway, its top shell culture and environmental road, but it did not. laughter. Wilson was reclining ripped off and its rows of sciences, had both worn About a hour and a half into the trip, the chattering in her seat with her back seats exposed. Most of the seatbelts. After the bus had had quieted down, and one against the window when passengers lay scattered tumbled into its upright position, only they and two by one, students began to she felt the bus beginning across the grassy ditch. Iris said the last thing he other students, Wilson and to veer off the road. doze off.
Allison Dorshorst, freshman environmental science major from Colleyville, remained onboard. “As I turned and looked behind me, I saw the bar ditch, and all through the bar ditch was all of our stuff and bodies lying everywhere,” Wilson said. “There were girls lying there in obvious pain, a lot of them not moving, and the whole top of the bus was basically torn off. The bus, the scene, it just looked like a bomb went off, everything was torn to shreds, things were thrown everywhere. It was my worst nightmare come true.” Iris remembers waking up on the side of the road, about 10 feet from where the bus had landed. He was bleeding from his forehead and felt as if he was unable to move. “It took me awhile to collect myself and to feel like I could stand up,” Iris said. “When I stood up and looked around, I thought it looked like a war zone. The bus was completely demolished and there was smoke and it smelled bad – like burnt rubber.” He realized that his tooth was broken and began look-
ing around for it when he spotted Hayley Wilkerson, sophomore animal science major from Ravenna. “She was like, ‘Hey man, you’re missing your tooth,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I know,” Iris said. Wilkerson had sat in front of Iris on the right side and had landed nearby after being ejected. Iris also spotted Anna Watson, sophomore animal science major from Kerrville, whose leg was bleeding, and Emmett Miller, assistant professor of agriculture and environmental sciences, who was near the back of the bus sitting up and bleeding from the head. Miller asked Iris how he was doing and if he was OK. Miller’s wife, Pat Miller, was next to him and was not moving. Wilson and Dorshorst moved away from the bus because the engine was smoking and fuel was leaking onto the ground. Those who could move pulled the medical kit from the vehicle and began assessing injuries as best they could, fumbling around to try and get the plastic gauze packages open and struggling with shock. Wilson came upon Reid on the ground near Iris and Lutz. “When I found Anabel, she was still breathing, but she had a lot of internal injuries,” Wilson said. “She was not conscious, nor was she ever conscious from the time that the motion stopped to when she was pronounced dead, so I don’t think she experienced any pain whatsoever.” A car traveling behind the bus stopped almost immediately after the crash, and the driver dialed 911. Another vehicle, a bus carrying the Winters football team, stopped and contributed more medical kits and water. Iris saw a man with a gray shirt putting out the fire in the bus engine and another woman attending to Reid. Crisis and Confusion The Reynolds County first response team arrived within 15 to 20 minutes of the crash, followed by helicopters from surrounding hospitals.
The police on the scene asked everyone who could walk to move toward the fence. Medics flew those in critical condition to hospitals in Ballinger, San Angelo, Abilene and Dallas. At one point, four or five helicopters were going to and from the site, landing on both sides of the bus and leaving quickly to transport the crash victims, said Wilson. Ambulances carried those less severely injured the nine miles to Ballinger. Wilson said the more difficult task for those remaining on the scene was getting a firm count of those involved in the accident, because many had been removed quickly. Initially, media reported two riders had been killed and – at times – that one student was missing. “I think that a lot of that confusion had to do with me because I was the one telling them how many people to look for, helping them count and helping them identify people,” Wilson said. “So a lot of times they were counting, but sometimes they weren’t including me and sometimes they were.”
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A University Responds Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, said he was on campus watching the championship soccer tournament at 4:30 p.m. when he received a call reporting an ACU bus had been involved in an accident south of Ballinger. Shortly after, Schubert was able to confirm that it was a group from the ag department heading to Medina. Schubert and a number of other ACU officials dispersed immediately to the area’s hospitals to be with those involved. Schubert to San Angelo, others to Ballinger and Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene. “It was good to get to hold their hand and talk to them and see their faces,” Schubert said from Shannon Medical Center. “We’re so thankful that they’ve been able to get the care here at this hospital, and they all seemed to be in stable condition once we
The one-vehicle accident occurred about nine miles south of Ballinger at about 3:20 p.m. on U.S. Highway 83 at CR 234.
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The bus was traveling southbound when it drifted off the highway into the right-hand ditch and hit a concrete culvert.
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The bus flipped end-over-end and landed facing south on its wheels with the body nearly removed from the frame.
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Artist interpretation
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Sequence of Events graphics by ben miller, michael mccarty and david singer
were able to visit with them.” Iris was taken to Ballinger Memorial Hospital along with seven others, including Wilson. “The administration and staff from ACU who came to the hospital to get me and to talk to me have been so supportive, and I really ap-
preciate that,” Iris said. At 6:30 p.m., word went out to the ACU community about the accident. Plans immediately took shape to conduct a prayer vigil for that night at the Beauchamp Amphitheater to pray for those involved. Members of the admin-
istration picked up Wilson from Ballinger Hospital, and she returned to campus, where she was able to attend the candlelight vigil. “We’ve felt the power of prayer over us, our family and around the organization of everything and how smoothly it went. There were
so many things that could have gone so much worse I feel God’s blessing on that,” Wilson said. “So through it all, God is good and He has been amazing to everyone.” contact optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu THE OPTIMIST • 3
Anabel ‘taught us to be still and listen’
Left: Anabel Reid went to Medina Children’s Home with the AES Club in 2010 to do mission work. Bottom left: Reid took a skydiving trip in April. Below: Reid and two friends enjoyed ACU football with her friends. Right: More than 1,000 members of the ACU community flocked to the Tower of Light to pray for those affected by the bus accident involving students and faculty members of the ACU Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science.
Beloved ACU student remembered for sweet spirit, heart of service Christina Burch Multimedia managing editor Anabel Reid, who friends describe as a woman with a unique passion for children and serving others, died Friday after the shuttle bus accident on U.S. Highway 83 just south of Ballinger. She was 19. Reid was among 12 students, three faculty members and one faculty spouse who were traveling to Medina Children’s Home for the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science’s annual service project. She is survived by her parents, Shelly and Ron Reid, and an older brother, Becton. ACU’s Beauchamp Amphitheatre was filled with the candlelight of hundreds at a vigil Friday night, when students, family and friends gathered to honor Anabel and to pray for the 15 other victims. Anabel’s mother said her daughter was a compassionate leader who had a special dream to bring fresh and 4
sustainable water sources to villages of underdeveloped countries. “She had a bigger heart for service than anyone I have ever known in my life,” Shelly Reid said. Anabel Reid was born on Jan. 28, 1992, to Ron and Shelly Reid. Along with big brother Becton, the family lived in a small farming town of Petersburg just outside Lubbock. “I had to take her out of her crib at 10 months because she kept crawling out,” Anabel’s mother said. “She was always headstrong and determined.” She spent her early years on the farm until her family relocated to town. But after her 16th birthday, the Reid family moved back to the farm, and Anabel returned to the life she loved. “The farm had always been her passion,” Shelly Reid said. “She loved to drive the tractor and used it for anything. She just loved the outdoors.” A good student and wellmannered girl, Anabel did have some “wild child”
tendencies, her mother said, recalling the time when as a kindergartener, Anabel had neatly planted a whoopee cushion on her teacher’s chair. “She was always heard – we didn’t have a choice to listen to her,” her mother said with a smile. “And we’re a loud family.” Anabel made it her special mission to meet every child and make him or her feel welcome, Shelly said. She had a sweet spirit, began each day with singing and could be found tagging along with big brother Becton, 23. “They did everything together,” Shelly said. The two enjoyed hunting, shooting, backpacking, rock climbing and riding motorcycles. “She surpassed me in the hiking department,” said her brother, Becton, recalling a recent trip to Jagged Mountain and Leviathan Peak in Colorado. Becton described Anabel as a natural-born leader who was up for anything. He recalled receiving a sur-
prising phone call from her in April. “I went skydiving today; what have you done lately?” Anabel asked. Becton said they were as close as any brother and sister could be. He said they even dreamed up joint business ventures. “Anabel called me up one day and mentioned that she had found 50 donkeys she thought we should invest in,” Becton said. “She was very thorough and didn’t do anything without researching it first. She even wrote up a business plan and proposal.” Becton said his businesssavvy little sister also had a heart for the Lord. “Youth group, mission trips, retreats – she never missed anything,” Becton said. Buddy Mills, former associate minister at her hometown church, Broadway Church of Christ, said she had a maturity well beyond her years. “Everyone was just blown away by her persona,” Mills said. “Through and
through, she was just an incredible girl.” Mills said he remembers Anabel befriending his 12-year-old son when his family first arrived at Broadway. “Nobody at church reached out to my son any
more than Anabel,” he said. “She was just iconic within the youth group.” Her mother said even as a child, Anabel was the household’s spiritual center. “She taught us to be still and listen – seek and ye shall find,” her mother said.
Candlelight vigil supports victims Bailey neal staff reporter
A prayer vigil took place Friday evening at the Beauchamp Amphitheater for those who wished to ref lect on Friday’s bus crash. ACU students and community members attended to pray for all those affected. Dr. Mark Hamilton, associate dean of the Graduate School of Theology, led the service with songs and invited other ACU staff members to pray over the crowd. More than 1000 people from the ACU and Abilene communities attended the outdoor service. On arrival, attendees were offered a candle to light and hold, though, because of the unexpectedly high number of people, organizers quickly ran out. “There’s a fair amount of improvisation that goes on when you are Anabel enrolled at would have been Anabel’s wells in Africa and change has been such a blessing in trying to find the words Abilene Christian Univer- second time volunteer- so many peoples’ lives, but my life,” Talley said. “Her that are best for the mosity in the fall of 2010 after ing with the non-profit she changed so many lives life will continue to make ment,” Hamilton said. me a better person, a bet- “It’s not always obvious working to raise the tuition Christian organization. here.” Abigail Talley, sopho- ter Christian and a better what those should be. money herself. Shelly said it Shelly said she knows her Most people rise to the was a dream of her daugh- daughter would never more biology pre-med ma- friend.” Donations in Anabel’s occasion. I think the stuter’s, and she was proud to have regretted going on jor from Tanzania, lived with Reid in Morris Hall, honor may be made to dents certainly did that the trip. be at the university. “She believed that’s what along with Rachel Easley, the Children’s Home of last night.” “She didn’t come to ACU Amanda Wilson, junior to learn to serve,” Shelly she was called to do,” her sophomore pre-dental ma- Lubbock at P.O. Box 2824, Lubbock, 79408. A me- animal science major said. “She came to ACU to mother said, “help people jor from Belton. “She really was a godly morial service for Ana- from Walsenburg, Colo., and live a life of service.” continue to serve.” Andrew Saucedo, sopho- girl,” Talley said of her bel Reid will take place was in the shuttle bus at Anabel volunteered with the non-profit organization more bio-chemistry pre- childhood friend and at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday the time of the accident Wishing Well and dreamed med and Christian minis- roommate. “If you ever got at Broadway Church of and spoke at the prayer vigil soon after being reof giving the simple gift of try major from Tyler, first stuck in the mud and were Christ in Lubbock. “It will be a time to sing leased from Ballinger water. She researched af- met Anabel at University in the middle of nowhere, fordable and sustainable Church of Christ and said she’d come without even praises, remember and cel- Memorial Hospital and ebrate her life,” her mother returning to Abilene. ways to implement water she always seemed to know thinking.” Talley said Anabel had a said. “And that is absolutely “You are all such an purification systems in what God was saying in evgift of encouragement. She what she would want.” amazing community,” underdeveloped villages ery situation. she said. “Your prayers “She just cared for peo- always had a Bible verse to overseas. and your support are so Friday’s trip to Me- ple, and she wanted to share and prays to offer. contact Burch at “She was very mature important to everybody dina Children’s Home change the world,” Saucedo clb10a@acu.edu involved in this.” with the ag department said. “She was going to dig in her faith, and she really
At the vigil, Hamilton read from Psalm 130 and said an occasion like this isn’t one people all want to come together for. “We are a community” Hamilton said. “We pray together. We should be able to weep with those who weep, even if we are not affected directly,” “That part of the Bible is very precious to me," he said. “I love the Psalms because they tell the truths about human life and they do it in such beautiful ways. I think the heart of prayer is an interesting relationship between an adoration of God and protest of God.” Hamilton said that the vigil was not a time for answers but a time for the ACU community to be together, letting God take care of the “whys.” “We shouldn’t be looking for quick answers or anything that can be fixed in a few days. This will take a while,” Hamilton said. “Reach out when you can to the people who were involved and their friends and associates,” he said. “It will take a long time to work through this for many people, and some people will carry this scar for a long time because they lost their friends and faced their own mortality in a very real way.” Another prayer service and devotional took place at University Church of Christ Sunday night. Chapel on Monday is also planned as a time of prayer for those affected by the crash. contact neal at bmn07a@acu.edu
THE OPTIMIST • 5
courtesy of the department of agriculture and environmental science
Students and faculty from the ag department, including Pat and Ed Miller, far right, worked at the Medina Children’s Home in 2009. This year’s group was on its way to Medina for the department’s seventh consecutive year volunteering at the home when the shuttle bus crashed Friday afternoon.
Accident shocks Medina Children’s Home orphans, at-risk youth and single-mother families. arts editor After the accident, word quickly traveled to Medina. Kevin McDonald, presiWhen the ACU shuttle bus veered into a ditch and dent and CEO of Arms of crashed at an intersection Hope, received a call at near Ballinger, the students about 4:30 p.m. from Meand faculty from the De- dina Children’s Home campartment of Agriculture and pus minister Tory RobertEnvironmental Sciences son. Friends from Ballinger, were heading south toward where Robertson once Medina Children’s Home, a served as a youth minister, campus 40 miles northwest had begun calling him with of San Antonio, for their an- news of incident. “My reaction was comnual mission trip. Medina Children’s plete shock, sorrow and Home, part of the not-for- disappointment,” McDonprofit Christian care organi- ald said. “We had been very exzation Arms of Hope, assists
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cited about the visit. Everyone gets really excited here when the ACU group comes out. It is a real inspiration to all of us to see young people who are so committed to helping others and making themselves so available to those who are in need of good inf luences in their lives. And to hear that they had such fantastic plans that were interrupted by such terrible tragedy was really heartbreak for me and everyone at Medina Children’s Home and Arms of Hope.” But news of the crash
did not just affect the organization’s leaders. It soon spread to those living at the home as well. The 314-acre faculty is home to an average of 60 children at its residential group care program and 28 families in the mother/ child care program. “A lot of the children and the families that we help have been accustomed to having bad news for much of their lives,” McDonald said. “The level of disappointment is very noticeable among the young people who had something to be excited about.”
This would have been the department’s seventh consecutive trip to the Medina home with Emmett Miller, assistant professor of range and environmental science. “Without the help of volunteer groups coming out to help us it would be impossible for us to take care of our affairs,” McDonald said. “We are always very grateful for the help.” The ACU students and faculty had a full schedule of plans for their time with the charitable organization, which operates completely on donations and
volunteer labor. “They were going to help out with various tasks around our campus including helping to make repairs and improvements to some of the facilities where our children live and help us maintain some of our agricultural land,” McDonald said. But to McDonald, the true benefit of the visit came from something more than labor. “There are a lot of things here that go way deeper than just a group of students coming to work with some disadvantaged chil-
Ag department faces difficult weeks ahead from Franklin, intended to go on the annual service sports reporter project but had to drop out earlier in the week. He As the reality of the ACU’s said he remained stunned weekend tragedy sets in, by the tragedy. “I just couldn’t believe faculty, staff and students in the Department of Agri- it,” McInturff said. “I think culture and Environmen- everyone is having trouble tal Sciences have begun to accepting what has hapconsider their next steps. pened.” Finding a way forward may take time, say faculty and There are a lot of students. unknowns right now, and For now, the department remains focused on I think everyone is still in honoring and assisting a bit of shock.” the victims. Department chair Ed Colton mcinturff junior animal science Brokaw said he hopes the major from franklin response of the department and university will The entire university has pay respect where it is due. He hopes the ag depart- reached out to the department will help lead the re- ment and those involved with the accident, said covery process. “We have the best stu- McInturff, an officer in the dents here at ACU, and so Agricultural and Environmany have already lent a mental Science club. “I have plans to honor hand when it was needed,” Brokaw said. “We need to Anabel and those affected continue this support and by this tragic accident. help each other through There are a lot of unknowns right now, and I this very difficult time.” The department and think everyone is still in a other university officials bit of shock.” McInturff and other repplanned to meet Sunday courtesy of Department of agriculture and environmental science night to decide which resentatives of the departAbove: Ag department students from previous years participate in the department’s annual mission trip to classes would meet during ment plan to meet with Medina Children’s Home. the coming week. Brokaw university administrators acknowledged most stu- to finalize campus-wide dents will have a difficult initiatives to reach out to had planned its annual time focusing while some students as well as honor Some of these relation- our students for Kendra.” dren,” he said. “There are a McDonald visited dinner for Nov. 19 with classmates and professors Anabel and those involved. ships came from more than lot of relationships here.” Many students have Students would always just the yearly mission trip. Shannon Medical Center a keynote from Dr. Phil are recovering from the McDonald, a long-time in San Angelo and Abilene Schubert, president of the wreck and others remain in already been involved in cook dinner on Saturday spreading support. A cannight for the campus of friend of Miller, also has Regional Medical Center university. McDonald said the hospital. The bus crashed en dlelight vigil took place on nearly 200. Afterwards, many relatives who attend- over the weekend to de- the dinner will continue many would join the chil- ed and remain connected liver cards and artwork as planned and will honor route to Medina, where campus Friday night, and the department conducts another service was schedcrafted by the children at Anabel Reid. dren and families and play to ACU. “The money that we are community service at a uled for Sunday night at One student involved in the Medina campus for basketball or do crafts. “It was that time that the crash, Kendra Unamba, those still being treated able to raise at that event children’s home every year. University Church of Christ. was most treasure by our junior pre-med major from for injuries from the ac- will be used for scholar- The accident took the life Several department stuchildren,” he said. “To be Midlothian, spent the past cident. He also planned to ships for our children in of Anabel Reid, sophomore dents are planning on atable to be around students summer as an intern for the attend Chapel on Monday honor of those students environmental science ma- tending a celebration of life morning. In addition, the who have made sacrifices jor from Petersburg, and service for Anabel in Lubwho are successful and organization. “She developed many prayer room of a chapel for our organization,” Mc- sent 11 students, three fac- bock on Wednesday as well, who have taken time out ulty members and a spouse McInturff said. of their busy schedule to close relationships with under construction at the Donald said. to four area hospitals with come and unselfishly be the children in our care,” Medina campus will be varying injuries. with them and encourage McDonald said. “There dedicated to all students contact singer at contact goin at Colton McInturff, juthem makes a huge differ- has been an especially involved in the wreck. dis08b@acu.edu nsg10b@acu.edu nior animal science major Arms of Hope already high level of concern by ence in their lives.”
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THE OPTIMIST • 7