by Judi McLeod
November 15, 2004
a rural tragedy, unspeakable in its magnitude, will like so many others before it, fade from newspaper headlines now that the funeral is over.
Eight coffins--one so tiny it could be carried in a father’s arms--marked the funeral services of the Marc Woerlen family, at the Bethany Community Church, St. Catherines, Ont.
Marc’s pregnant wife, Monika, 39, and their seven children, aged 11 to 19 months, perished in a farmhouse fire.
How could anyone ever hope to offer solace to a man whose entire family was wiped out while he was away arranging for their new home in a nearby community?
Indeed, it was Marc Woerlen who offered solace to a thousand grieving souls attending the funeral.
The words of farewell he wrote, but doubted he’d have the strength to say at the service appeared instead at the end of a video put together by the nine brothers of his wife: “Please wait for me until God calls me home and I can once again hold you in my aching arms.”
a November 8 fire suffocated the family as they slept and reduced their farmhouse to ruins.
Holding a Bible in one hand and bracing himself with his other hand to steady himself at the podium, he said:
“Thank you Monika for our seven wonderful children.”
Sustained only by his faith, Marc has understandably refused all interviews in a grief too staggering for any mortal to understand.
Family members could only take comfort in knowing that the age-old prayer with the haunting words. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take”, was said at the bedside of each child, each night.
“The joy we experienced from morning at the breakfast table to good-night hugs and kisses will sustain me through the days and nights to come,” Marc said.
In the endless days and lonely nights ahead, Mark firmly believes that only his faith will carry him through.
Marc wanted to share with those attending the service, the words that come whenever he questions why God took his family away from him. The words are found the Bible’s Wisdom of Solomon, in a passage he had printed on the back of the funeral program:
“Being perfected in a short time, they fulfilled long years; for their souls were pleasing to the Lord, therefore he took them quickly from the midst of wickedness.”
Mark told a church full of mourners that if there is one lesson this tragedy has taught him, it is this:
“We see this as never before how short this time is and how precious is our time together.”
In the end the same children shown on a video from the day they staged a play in their farmhouse, dressed in animal costumes with just their tiny faces identifying them as the animated Woerlen brood, were carried away to St. anne’s Cemetery.
The final tableau will live forever in the memory of all who saw it: the children’s’ coffins carried out one by one according to age, each casket smaller than the other until the very end.
Monika’s casket was borne out of the church on the shoulders of her brothers, leaving Debora Lynn, the youngest child last.
“That’s because Mark Woerlen wanted to carry his youngest baby’s coffin out himself,” wrote Toronto Star reporter Sonia Verma.
“His arms surely aching, he still found the strength to do that alone.”
The best way to keep the memory of Marc’s children alive comes from their father: “We see as never before how short this time is and how precious our time is together.”
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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