Plane-crash victims honored by family, friends

Karen and Ken Goff stood in the aisle at First United Methodist Church Saturday evening with their disposable camera in hand.\nThey faced a cross positioned on the left wall of the church, taking a picture of it to add another memory to their already over-flowing ones of Zachary Novak, one of the five victims from the IU Jacobs School of Music, who was killed in a plane crash last year.\nThe Goffs were attending a remembrance service at the church to honor the lives of the five students who lost their lives. Novak, Chris Carducci, Garth Eppley, Georgina Joshi, and Robert Samels were all lost in the crash.\nDuring the service, Mary Beth Morgan, the congregation’s director of adult and family ministries, told stories to remember the victims. Through words, she told the large crowd that the lives of these musicians weren’t lived only by themselves.\n“There are some memories that are very strong,” Morgan said. “One is being in this room one year ago tonight as we gathered here in this room after finding out the news.”\nMorgan recalled each of the five victims. Whether it was a story about Chris’s charisma and welcoming spirit, Garth’s love of the outdoors, Zachary’s adventurous spirit and spring-like personality, Robert’s talent and fun or Georgina’s kindness and beautiful smile, each of the victims left touching memories.\nKaren Goff recalled a duet she sang with Joshi.\n“She was just so lovely,” Goff said. “We hugged and said goodbye. … We developed a real strong bond. She was a really lovely human being.”\nAs members of the Bach Chorale Singers, a small group of singers organized in Lafayette and West Lafayette, both Karen and Ken remembered being with the five victims the Thursday night before their plane crashed. The five students had been practicing that evening with the Bach Chorale group in preparation for a Saturday performance.\n“I can say the year has done me good,” Karen said, as she sat in a pew after the service. “I remember after the crash I would hear the birds sing and think, ‘How can you sing, birds?’” \nBut now Karen says she can hear the birds sing again and remember the music students who lost their lives. \nKaren recalled developing a strong relationship with Novak, as he was the first to become involved in the chorale group prior to the Thursday before the crash. Novak worked as the worship coordinator and director of the Wesley choir and children’s choirs at First United Methodist Church.\nBut she said she knew the five victims and shook their hands that evening before they boarded their plane for home.\nPastor George Purnell mentioned Novak’s deep ties to the church.\n“Zack Novak was a dear friend of my wife and me,” Purnell said. “We tear up easily and often. He was such a beautiful man. So gifted. So filled with joy … just so Zack. We are grateful for his life as long as we live.” \nThe cross the Goff’s took a picture of was sketched out by Novak and then later constructed, as Morgan told those in the crowd.\nKaren said she and her husband wanted to come not only to remember Novak and the others who lost their lives, but to see the cross and the church in which Novak worked.\nThe previous evening, the Goff’s attended another remembrance service. \n“We met the parents at the reception and they didn’t want to stop talking,” Karen said. “They kept saying, ‘Tell us what you remember.’” \nAs those in the church gathered on Saturday to reminisce, the suffering stretched from the voices of the singers to the speeches. \n“We are tremendously sad,” Purnell said. “The unrealized promise felt by their premature death. A loss for the world, their lives left unfinished, their instruments and voices silenced forever.\n“None of us will leave the earth with all our i’s dotted and t’s crossed, but we can leave a legacy of hope for those of us who follow just as those five who we are gathered here today for did. \n“In awe of the five short lives that enriched and touched every one here. …We are better for knowing them.”\nLike the Goff’s, continuing to remember the five victims with photographs and memories, Morgan said the recollection of the five victims will continue.\n“They brought light into our lives,” Morgan said. “And we are invited to help these lights continue to shine.”