KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A survivor was among the crowd at the funeral for two of the Kalamazoo County bicycle crash victims.
Tony Nelson and Larry Paulik were laid to rest Wednesday. The private service came eight days after police say a pickup truck drove into a group of bicyclists on N. Westnedge Avenue,killing five of them and seriously injuring four others.
While the service was not open to media, a source tells 24 Hour News 8 survivor Jennifer Johnson was transported by ambulance to St. Thomas More Student Parish for the private memorial. Everyone inside the Kalamazoo church gave her a standing ovation as she was rolled into the church on a stretcher, the source said.
Nelson leaves behind two sons and Paulik is survived by two sons and a daughter. The source says all six of them spoke at the memorial, which included the type of uplifting music both longtime parishioners would have wanted.
“When one parish family heard about the tragedy, they did not recognize the names, but looked up the families in the parish pictorial directory. One child saw Tony’s photo and said, ‘I know him! He gave me my first communion.’ Another family recalled his distribution of holy communion to their son and posted it on Facebook, in which you see Tony crouch down to look him straight on as he gave him the Eucharistic Body of Christ. People do remember their encounters with Christ through us,” Father Ken Schmidt said in his funeral homily.
