A community united in loss

PARKERSBURG -- Disbelief dissolved into grief and turned to healing here Wednesday as this tornado-wracked community came to grips with the murder of its beloved football coach, Ed Thomas, before the horrified eyes of several of his players and students.

The bleachers that Thomas' Aplington-Parkersburg football team filled on fall Friday nights for more than 30 years overflowed last night with mourners for the man who touched and influenced generations.

The thoroughly religious candlelit vigil in honor of the coach shot to death Wednesday morning by one of his former players was fitting for a coach who prayed with his team before every football game and never apologized for doing so on school property, said former player Kenny Eggers of Parkersburg.

Pastors of eight Parkersburg churches spoke, and three of them asked the community to pray not only for the Thomas family but also for the family of 24-year-old Mark Becker, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the coach's slaying.

"We prayed for the families involved and that they will know your love and that you care for them," said the Rev. Phillip Jensen, associate pastor of the Parkersburg Congregational Church, attended by both the Thomas and Becker families.

The religious character of the ceremony reflects the spirit of the Parkersburg community, but even more so of the coach, Jensen said.

The Rev. Ryan Zurbrigger, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Parkersburg, asked those gathered to pray for both families and "for those who witnessed the evils of this morning."

Zurbrigger prayed that the horrific images of the beloved coach shot to death in the school weight room would soon fade from their minds.

Kevin Winker, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said about 20 student-athletes were in the Parkersburg weight room when Thomas, 58, was shot to death and that several of them witnessed the shooting.

"It will be hard enough for all of us to get over the loss, but to watch it happen ... it will be harder to recover from that," Mayor Bob Haylock said Wednesday afternoon.

In his more than 33 years as a coach and teacher in Parkersburg, Thomas taught teamwork and relying on the support and help of others, Haylock said. That ingrained attitude helped Parkersburg residents bounce back from the EF-5 tornado that destroyed about one-third of the town a little more than a year ago, and it will help them work through this latest tragedy, Haylock said.

"I'd sooner have another tornado than this," said Vinton Christopherson, who lives on Florence Street near the new football field named in honor of Ed Thomas.

"We'll have to go on, just like we did after the tornado," said Lavern Kluiter, 72, who has lived across the street from the high school shooting scene for 35 years.

Josie Mostek, a first-grade teacher at the elementary school in Parkersburg, said she was in disbelief when she heard that Thomas had been shot.

"He was my teacher. He coached my brothers. The whole community is connected to him," said Mostek, who grew up next door to the Thomases.

Thomas was irreplaceable, said Glenda Vanderhold, who also lives next to the high school. "The community is at a standstill," she said.

By midmorning, the lawns around the elementary school had filled with clusters of students and parents quietly conversing about their loss. Inside, counselors sent by the Iowa Department of Human Services met with students and will do so again today.

The Parkersburg City Hall closed its offices Wednesday out of respect for Thomas and his wife, Jan, Parkersburg's assistant city clerk, both of whom were instrumental in helping the town recover from last year's tornado. School events also will be suspended at least until after Thomas' funeral, Aplington-Parkersburg Superintendent Jon Thompson said.

Thomas' legacy will not be for his coaching, great as that was, but as a role model for generations of students, Thompson said.

"He always preached to be willing to look to one another for support. We will do that. We will move on," he said.