Read Online Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, David L. Weaver-Zercher - Free Book Online Page A
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personal gestures. The parents of several of the slain children invited members of the Roberts family to attend their daughters’ funerals. More surprisingly, when the Roberts family gathered on Saturday to bury the gunman in the cemetery of Georgetown United Methodist Church, more than half of the seventy-five mourners were Amish. Amos, an Amish neighbor who was present at the gravesite, thought it was simply the right thing to do. “A number of us just talked and thought we should go,” he said. “Many of us knew the family very well. So we met at the firehouse, just informally, and then we walked across the back way, behind a long garage. We waited there until we saw them bring the body to the cemetery. . . . Many of our people went up to Amy and greeted her and the children.” In fact, some of the parents who had buried their own children just a day or two before offered condolences and hugs to Amy at the gravesite.
The funeral director recalled the moving moment: “I was lucky enough to be at the cemetery when the Amish families of the children who had been killed came to greet Amy Roberts and offer their forgiveness. And that is something I’ll never forget, not ever. I knew that I was witnessing a miracle.”
A Roberts family member, also an eyewitness to the “miracle,” described it this way: “About thirty-five or forty Amish came to the burial. They shook our hands and cried. They embraced Amy and the children. There were no grudges, no hard feelings, only forgiveness. It’s just hard to believe that they were able to do that.”
The presence of Amish mourners at Roberts’s burial may have been the most dramatic expression of their grace, but it was not the final one. Several weeks after the shooting, a meeting took place at the Bart firehouse between members of the Roberts family—Amy, her sister, her parents, and Charles’s parents—and the Amish families who lost children. It was a profound time of grief and healing, according to some present. “We went around the circle and introduced ourselves,” an Amish leader said. “Amy just cried and cried and cried. We talked and cried and talked and cried. She was near me, and I put my hand on her shoulder, and then I stood up and I talked and cried. It was very moving and very intense.” In the words of another Amish participant, “There were a lot of tears shed that day. There was a higher power in the room.”
Forgiveness also flowed in the form of dollars. When the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee formed two days after the shooting, committee members discussed their desire to help the Roberts family. In searching for a committee name, they decided to forgo the word Amish and instead use Nickel Mines, said one committee member, “because this is a community tragedy beyond us Amish. We want to reach out to the Roberts family as well.” In the ensuing discussion, another committee member asked, “Who will take care of them now since they will have no income? It’s not right if we get $1,000 and they get only $5.” After contacting the Roberts family, the committee designated some its funds for the killer’s widow.
In addition to assisting the Roberts family through the Accountability Committee, Amish people contributed to the family personally by making donations to the Roberts Family Fund established by the Coatesville Savings Bank. Dozens of Amish people donated money to the fund, said one knowledgeable source. One English man recalled making a contribution at the bank, turning to leave, and finding two Amish people behind him in line waiting to donate.
These concrete acts of grace were not lost on the widow’s family. “It’s hard to accept what has happened,” said one of Amy’s relatives, “but the kindness of the Amish has helped us tremendously. . . . It helps us to know that they forgave us.” Another relative agreed, echoing what many commentators had already noted: “If this had happened to
The funeral director recalled the moving moment: “I was lucky enough to be at the cemetery when the Amish families of the children who had been killed came to greet Amy Roberts and offer their forgiveness. And that is something I’ll never forget, not ever. I knew that I was witnessing a miracle.”
A Roberts family member, also an eyewitness to the “miracle,” described it this way: “About thirty-five or forty Amish came to the burial. They shook our hands and cried. They embraced Amy and the children. There were no grudges, no hard feelings, only forgiveness. It’s just hard to believe that they were able to do that.”
The presence of Amish mourners at Roberts’s burial may have been the most dramatic expression of their grace, but it was not the final one. Several weeks after the shooting, a meeting took place at the Bart firehouse between members of the Roberts family—Amy, her sister, her parents, and Charles’s parents—and the Amish families who lost children. It was a profound time of grief and healing, according to some present. “We went around the circle and introduced ourselves,” an Amish leader said. “Amy just cried and cried and cried. We talked and cried and talked and cried. She was near me, and I put my hand on her shoulder, and then I stood up and I talked and cried. It was very moving and very intense.” In the words of another Amish participant, “There were a lot of tears shed that day. There was a higher power in the room.”
Forgiveness also flowed in the form of dollars. When the Nickel Mines Accountability Committee formed two days after the shooting, committee members discussed their desire to help the Roberts family. In searching for a committee name, they decided to forgo the word Amish and instead use Nickel Mines, said one committee member, “because this is a community tragedy beyond us Amish. We want to reach out to the Roberts family as well.” In the ensuing discussion, another committee member asked, “Who will take care of them now since they will have no income? It’s not right if we get $1,000 and they get only $5.” After contacting the Roberts family, the committee designated some its funds for the killer’s widow.
In addition to assisting the Roberts family through the Accountability Committee, Amish people contributed to the family personally by making donations to the Roberts Family Fund established by the Coatesville Savings Bank. Dozens of Amish people donated money to the fund, said one knowledgeable source. One English man recalled making a contribution at the bank, turning to leave, and finding two Amish people behind him in line waiting to donate.
These concrete acts of grace were not lost on the widow’s family. “It’s hard to accept what has happened,” said one of Amy’s relatives, “but the kindness of the Amish has helped us tremendously. . . . It helps us to know that they forgave us.” Another relative agreed, echoing what many commentators had already noted: “If this had happened to
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