Church bell rings for crash victim
BLUE HILL — Bells rang out across town here this morning, marking the death of one of the victims of Wednesday’s crash of a semitrailer and a Blue Hill school bus.
Travis Witte, 21, was the driver of a hay truck that collided with the school bus northeast of Cowles Wednesday afternoon. In all, four people — both drivers and two students — died. Several other students were injured.
Witte’s family — his parents are Norman and Penny — are members of Trinity Lutheran Church, which is just north of downtown Blue Hill. When a member of the church dies, two bells ring out: One large bell that rings constantly, and a smaller bell that tolls according to the age of the departed: Once for a young person, twice for a middle-aged person, and three times for an elderly person.
For Travis, the bell tolled just once.
Glenda Shaw, secretary at the church, said it was hard to hear the bells ring for Witte, but that the tradition is important in the life of the church, where people lean on each other and on God in times of sorrow.
“The Witte family — and his mom was a Seeman — have been part of this community forever and this church,” Shaw said. “We kind of pull together as family not only as friends, but as a church family.”
BLUE HILL — Bells rang out across town here this morning, marking the death of one of the victims of Wednesday’s crash of a semitrailer and a Blue Hill school bus.
Travis Witte, 21, was the driver of a hay truck that collided with the school bus northeast of Cowles Wednesday afternoon. In all, four people — both drivers and two students — died. Several other students were injured.
Witte’s family — his parents are Norman and Penny — are members of Trinity Lutheran Church, which is just north of downtown Blue Hill. When a member of the church dies, two bells ring out: One large bell that rings constantly, and a smaller bell that tolls according to the age of the departed: Once for a young person, twice for a middle-aged person, and three times for an elderly person.
For Travis, the bell tolled just once.
Glenda Shaw, secretary at the church, said it was hard to hear the bells ring for Witte, but that the tradition is important in the life of the church, where people lean on each other and on God in times of sorrow.
“The Witte family — and his mom was a Seeman — have been part of this community forever and this church,” Shaw said. “We kind of pull together as family not only as friends, but as a church family.”
To read more, see Thursday's Hastings Tribune or the Tribune e-edition.>>>
