Linda Dolce says she worked late last week and missed church when a van crashed carrying 18 parishioners of the Haitian Assembly of God church in Fort Pierce, Florida.
On Easter Sunday, Dolce arrived early as the congregation got ready to remember the eight dead and pray for the 10 others injured. The van, filled with a choir ensemble, ran a stop light after a Palm Sunday event en route back to the modest pink-and-white church. Among those still hospitalized was Pastor Esperant Lexine.
“Today, everybody is supposed to be here together. There are people who I am not going to see,” she said before services started. “It’s going to be heart-breaking. There’s just a sadness.”
Still the congregation of about 300 were intent on celebrating Easter. Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters arrived with 75 Easter baskets in tow, including food. He said he recalls when Riviera Beach suffered through hurricanes and others came to help.
He said on Easter Sunday he was in clergy mode, the Bishop Thomas Masters. He told the congregation of about 300 on the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ that, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.”
»Photos: Church mourns 8 killed in van crash
Ten-year-old Louisa Laguerre said her uncle was injured. She said an Easter egg hunt was canceled but she still had hope it might occur. “I feel just so sad for the people who lost relatives,” she said.
Philippe Dorce, a leader of the church who lost his cousin in the crash, said celebrating Easter is difficult. “Everybody is supposed to be happy,” he said. “We are going to do everything we can to make the day special.”
»Related: Communities come together to help victims of van crash
The van was full a men’s choir, church spokeswoman Mara Lexine said. The Dodge, designed to carry 15, held 18, many without seat belts. What the Florida Highway Patrol does know is that the driver ran a stop sign and then caromed down an embankment near Moore Haven, a community in Glades County. Most of the injured and dead where with the men’s choir named Group Dome.
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