Wedgwood not to hold special service
Wedgwood Baptist Church is trying to move on three years after a gunman killed seven people, including a TCU alumna.
By Joi Harris
Staff Reporter

The staff at Wedgwood Baptist Church said although they will not have a special service this year to remember the shootings that happened three years ago, they say they still are trying to heal.

“It’s time to move on,” said Debbie Gillette, church secretary. “That doesn’t mean that we forget, but we just try not to dwell on it.”

The church hadn’t planned on having a memorial service for the second anniversary either, but opened its door anyway because of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The public looks to the church for an answer in times of crisis, said Al Meredith, pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church. He said he feels like he’s become the resident guru in misery.

“We’re already tender around times like this, so that just made it worse,” Meredith said. “I’ve been to so many memorial services that it has become burdensome. And sometimes you’ve just honestly got to say I don’t know why, but I know (God), and that’s become my comfort.”

On Sept. 15, 1999, Larry Ashbrook walked into a church youth prayer rally shouting obscenities — and carrying 200 rounds of ammunition. He fired a handgun repeatedly and detonated a pipe bomb. Fourteen people were shot and seven died. Ashbrook then fatally shot himself in the sanctuary.

A memorial, which was dedicated March 30, 2002, now stands outside the church near the entry way where Ashbrook entered. On the memorial there are seven faces, with seven names, seven inscriptions and seven goodbyes. Seven chairs surround the memorial.

Kim Jones, a Delta Gamma alumna who graduated in May of 1998, was killed that day. During her fifth year at TCU, Jones started a Bible study within her sorority. She died serving God just as she had taught to members of her Bible study group, said Shalene Kelly, one of the first devoted members of the group.

Today, that Bible study is dedicated to her memory, Kelly said.

Kelly, who graduated in May, said Jones was an inspiration from the moment they met, and she said she feels strongly about the continuation of the Bible study.

“The torch has been passed to us and we can’t let her legacy die,” she said.

During the first Bible study of every school year, members said they talk about Jones and the reasons why she started the study. Sorority members, many of whom never met Jones, said she is still a big influence to Delta Gamma.

Delta Gamma president Elissa Winder, a senior speech communication major, did not know Jones, but she said she cherishes the legacy she left behind for the sorority to uphold.

“Not all sororities have this opportunity to worship together,” Winder said. “When she died it became more than just a Bible study, it’s Kim’s Bible study.”

Delta Gamma and Wedgwood Baptist Church members said their faith is even stronger than it was before.

“I’m okay with Kim’s death, because I know she was ready to go home,” Kelly said. “Someone (other than Kim) may not have been ready spiritually and would not be with God now.”

Though it has been three years, Meredith said, the church will never get over the incident, but through the grace of God the members will get through it.