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AMSTERDAM, N.Y. – Mourners at a funeral for four sisters and their families killed in a limousine accident in New York were assured Saturday that their loved ones can still see their tears and feel their sorrow.
On a wet and chilly day, hundreds of people filled the benches of an old brick church in Amsterdam serving eight of the twenty people killed last Saturday when the limousine she had rented for the celebration of its thirtieth anniversary crashed. The stretched limousine hurtled down a hill beyond a stop sign into another car park vehicle. The 17 passengers and the driver were killed, as well as two pedestrians standing in the parking lot.
"The question that is in the hearts of so many people is: why?" Reverend O. Robert DeMaritnis spoke to hundreds of people in mourning. "Why did these 20 people have to be kidnapped so quickly and so unexpectedly?"
DeMaritnis spoke on an altar flanked by photos of Allison King, her sister Abigail Jackson and her husband Adam Jackson, his sisters Mary Dyson and Robert Dyson, his sister Amy Steenburg and her husband Axel Steenburg, and his older brother, Richard Steenburg.
A unit with cremated ashes of Adam Jackson and Abigail Jackson at the Roman Catholic St. Stanislaus Church in Amsterdam, New York, on Saturday, October 13, 2018.
Hans Pennink / AP
Urns containing their remains were placed under the pictures, each of the three married couples sharing ballot boxes. Five teddy bears sit near the urns, one for each young child who has lost a parent.
A week ago, the group – most of them in their thirties – was heading to a birthday party for Amy Steenburg in a brewery in the town of Cooperstown. DeMaritnis said that he believed that Amy and her friends had been able to celebrate Amy's 30th birthday, but in their life after death. He told people in mourning to console themselves in their eternal life.
DeMaritnis married Amy and Axel Steenburg in June. He remembered them as a laughing couple who signaled to their wedding guests not to take pictures because "we suggest you live in the present moment".
He wondered why they had never picked up the panel. Now, he says, he knew.
"That 's what they ask me to ask you to do today," said DeMaritnis, holding the panel in the air.
The sisters grew up in Amsterdam, a small town in upstate New York State, and many of the victims have close ties to the area. The city was sorrowful amidst a series of funerals.
Meanwhile, authorities continue to investigate the cause of the accident while prosecutors have accused the operator of the limo company, Nauman Hussain, with criminal negligence homicide, declaring that he allowed a driver holding an illegal license to drive an "unusable" vehicle. Officials said Hussain could face more charges.
Thousands rallied for a candlelight rally along the Mohawk River Monday night, and thousands attended the Friday evening call for sisters and family members. .
"What good can come from this tragedy?" DeMaritnis asked the church filled as he spread his arms. "Take a look – thousands and thousands of people."
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