Een stukje uit de krant in Colorado waar Pa Ballegooy over verteld. Dit is een gebeurtenis geweest wat van grote invloed was op hem en al eerder is aangehaald door Huub en nu door Pa'Now they are dead'
Central students remember those killed in wreck
Jared Fiel
October 16, 1998
The opening chords of "Stairway to Heaven" drifted down the street.
Some kids grasped candles; others grasped friends.
Tears flowed almost as much as laughter normally does on the north side of Greeley Central High School, 1515 14th Ave.
Some stood by themselves, with blank faces still trying to conceive of the loss of friends.
Others huddled in groups and wrote messages on a large placard or in chalk on the sidewalk they had shared with their friends just 24 hours before.
"I love you guys."
"Shine on."
"We will always remember."
They came together in sorrow, remembered their friends and fought loudly together against television cameras that wanted to pierce their privacy.
Huub van Ballegooy, a 16-year-old exchange student from Holland, has been at Greeley Central for only a few months, but he had gotten to know two of the victims, Michael Preston and Mark Whitman.
He said Preston had been talking for weeks about getting his license and how much he wanted to drive Whitman's new car.
On Wednesday - the day Preston got his driver's license, the friends ditched seventh period and urged Ballegooy to do the same to go for the ride Preston had been waiting for.
Ballegooy and a few others declined. He said he had an important class that he couldn't miss.
"And now they are dead," Ballegooy said. "Life is so fragile. It can happen in an eye blink."
Ballegooy said that, in the short time he knew Preston and Whitman, they had become good friends. "It's not how long you know someone; it's how well you know them," he said. "And I am really going to miss them."
Students like Ballegooy were the reason that a team of about 20 professional, volunteer and teacher counselors were available at Greeley Central. About a half dozen counselors were at Dayspring Christian School, where Whitman attended until he quit last year to get his General Equivalency Diploma. Other schools also were helping out students.
Jon Helwick, principal at Central, said a room was set aside for students and teachers to get counseling. Other counselors were walking the halls and outside among the grieving students in the makeshift memorial vigil on the north side of the school.
"We've done this before," Helwick said. "We've done this too many times before."
Helwick said each homeroom teacher was given a script to read to give details of the crash.
Ferrin Kilby, superintendent of Dayspring, said the school was able to inform the students about the crash before the end of school Wednesday, "so many kids were able to seek help from their parents and pastors," he said.
Still, on Thursday, a lot of students were still spending time with the counselors.
"These kids are Christians so they understand the Lord's role in their lives," he said. "But they still have a lot of questions."
Janet Louk, a hospice counselor, volunteered to help kids at Central on Thursday morning.
She said she was impressed with the compassion the students have shown for their lost friends as well as for the truck driver, David Doan. "They don't blame him," she said. "They feel concern for him."
Louk said that, for the most part, her role was to let the kids share in their grief and deal with their feelings together. "Teens need privacy," she said. "These kids are feeling just about everything. Some are numb, some are sad and others are just angry."
She said the feelings are understandable. "Kids aren't supposed to die, and this is making them realize their own mortality," she said. "It's hard enough to lose one friend, but to lose so many is just overwhelming."
Similar counseling sessions went on at other schools.
Teachers and counselors at Windsor High School monitored students, prepared to help any grieving students. One of the accident victims, Zachariah Nelson, transferred from Windsor to Greeley Central last school year.
Ben Rainbolt, principal of Valley High School in Gilcrest, said his counselor was busy all day Thursday talking to students who knew the victims.
"Just because it's Greeley Central kids doesn't mean it doesn't affect all of us," Rainbolt said.
Greeley Tribune reporter Donovan Henderson contributed to this report.
Counseling
Greeley-Evans District 6 School District officials have made arrangements with North Range Behavioral Health Center to provide 24-hour conseling services to District 6 students and parents this weekend. The number to access these services is 353-3686.
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