They had cots and
brought them to Miller so
he had a place to put the
dead.
“Before the night
was over, there were 16
(deceased people at the
funeral home),” he said. “It
makes you really stop (and
think).”
Then the electricity went
out.
Miller knew he had to
make provisions for the
conditions of the bodies.
He needed special fluids
and pouch bags for people
with traumatic injuries.
“It was unbelievable,” he
said.
Pouch bags from Dela-
ware were flown in.
Miller worked all Sunday
night and at daylight, an-
other body was brought in
from Middlebury.
Knowing that eight of the
17 dead at the funeral home
had come from Shore Men-
nonite Church, Miller met
with those families — four
of them — and suggested
they have a mass funeral.
The families agreed.
Shipshewana school’s
gym was set up and the
caskets were ordered.
The electricity had been
restored, which allowed for
a viewing for a couple of
victims.
There were still no phone
lines, though. Miller’s wife
had to go to White Pigeon,
Michigan., to communicate
and had to drive to The
Goshen News to deliver the
obituaries.
People in Shipshewana
were really willing to help,
Miller said. One com-
pany even reset all of the
gravestones at the Shore
cemetery that had been
flattened by the tornado
before the funerals.
Because other funeral
homes in the area were also
busy due to the tornado
fatalities, Miller could not
get any extra hearses. He
had his two, so he planned
on taking two at a time to
Shore Mennonite cemetery
for burial services.
Wednesday afternoon
and evening, visitation took
place.
And then on Thursday,
the mass funeral began at
2:30 p.m., just as sched-
uled — something Miller is
proud of to this day. Hun-
dreds packed the gym.
Following the services,
Miller said one thing he
had not anticipated were
the hundreds of people
who lined the road to the
cemetery. They made it
somewhat difficult for the
hearses to maneuver in.
Before the week ended,
Miller had conducted 17
funerals, including another
mass funeral of four people
at Forks Cemetery.
“If I had stopped to
think,” Miller said, “I
wouldn’t have thought I’d
get it all done.”
In all of his years as a
funeral director, Miller
said he’s not experienced
anything like it. He keeps
a photo of the mass funeral
in a curio cabinet at the
funeral home.
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P
alm
S
unday
T
ornadoes
| 50
th
A
nniversary
The Goshen News Saturday, April 11, 2015 |
11
Busy
Continued from page 10
photo provided
This photo of
the mass funeral held for eight of
the Palm Sunday tornado victims — all from Shore
Mennonite Church — is framed and on display at Mill-
er-Stewart Funeral Home, Middlebury. The photo was
taken by the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.
sheila selman |
The Goshen News
Funeral director
Richard Miller of Miller Stew-
art Funeral Home still has the obituaries of the 17 vic-
tims of the Palm Sunday tornadoes.
