Family insistent that reporter be at funeral
If there is any kind of solace that Gary Stuifbergen, Greg Shoulders, Marcy Walters and her two children that would give them freedom from their pain is that another family doesn?t have to endure what they?ve been through. If the sight of their loved ones in an open casket at the January 30 funeral service at Joy Community Church is what it takes to jar someone?s mind to drive more carefully, then so be it, said Marcy Walters early Friday morning, when contacted by the Onaway Outlook.
Walters has seen the story in the February 6 edition of the Outlook, along with the accompanying photo of three open caskets, and said it is following through with what the family wanted regarding coverage of the tragic accident which took the lives of three family members. The Outlook made contact with family members January 28, two days after the accident, to talk about doing a story to memorialize Debra Stuifbergen, Leann ?Scooter? Shoulders and Nick Stuifbergen, who were all killed in a head-on crash in North Allis Township. Early investigation details reveal that a 16-year-old driver of a pick up truck was on the wrong side of the road when the accident occurred.
To respect the immediate family, during their time of grief, a friend contacted Walters and asked her to contact managing editor Peter Jakey. Walters called in the middle afternoon and an appointment was made for later in the evening, as the story had to be written the next morning. Gary Stuifbergen, Greg Shoulders and Walters were all there. They were told about the apprehension the Outlook had about covering Friday?s funeral. Family was insistent that a reporter be there and that pictures be taken and published in the following edition of the Outlook.
?We want to stress the seriousness of this, so it doesn?t happen to somebody else?s family, someone else doesn?t have to endure the pain and loss that we did,? said Walters, the morning of February 6. ?By what we are doing with you, keeping it in everybody?s minds, and get it cleaned up, we?ll get a message across to all these kids.? Staff carefully looked through the 30 or more photos, mostly before and after the service, with no flash being used, and decided the one from a distance would show the least, and be the most respectful to the wishes of the fam
The Outlook took great responsibility in staying in contact with the family to see if there feelings had changed about taking the photos or being in attendance at the funeral, and they didn?t. The family wanted Jakey to be at the funeral, take photos, and publish them in the weekly newspaper.
Tough decisions had to be made at the local newspaper, but the easy decision, is for someone to not loose sight of the task of careful driving. That stop sign in the middle of nowhere shouldn?t be ignored, nor should the assumption be made that there is nobody on the other side of a little hiccup hill in the road.
The hope is that the easy decision is made, before the tough ones have to be made by others.