Slain pastor mourned at graveside service
DEAN HOFFMEYER/TIMES-DISPATCH
The mother of Rev. Mark Alan Niederbrock, Jan Somers Niederbrock (right), leaves a graveside service for her son at Walker’s Presbyterian Church in Hixburg.
HIXBURG—More than 150 people attended a graveside memorial service today for Pastor Mark Niederbrock, one of four people slain in Farmville.
The bodies of Niederbrock; his estranged wife, Debra S. Kelley; their daughter, Emma Niederbrock; and her friend, Melanie Wells, were found Friday in Kelley’s home.
The service was held at the Appomattox County church where Niederbrock had been a supply minister for the past six years, Walker’s Presbyterian Church.
Niederbrock was praised as a gifted pastor who also ministered in the homes and hospital rooms of congregants.
The Rev. Joseph McCutchen, retired from Farmville Presbyterian Church, discussed the inexplicable nature of the deaths and encouraged mourners to maintain their faith.
“The universe in which we live is not rational and the world is not fair, but the one consistent thing we can depend on is the love of God,“ he said.
A service for Kelley and Emma Niederbrock tentatively is scheduled for Oct. 3 at Farmville United Methodist Church at 1 p.m. In Inwood, W.Va., a service will be held tomorrow at 6 p.m. for Melanie Grace Wells, 18, at the South Berkeley Chapel of the Brown Funeral Home.
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Reader Reactions
Adelphi, I am Mark’s cousin from IL. Our family is speechless too.
At least one of the four assured a place in Heaven.
But God may smile on them all. He May smile and He Will smile are two different concepts.
I cannot imagine how devastating this must be to the families. Speechless.
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