Photos courtesy of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and Dignity Memorial.
From left, Bart Rainey, Sharon Yeager and Jane Pounds were killed at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 16.
On June 22 and 23, memorial services were held for the victims of the June 16 shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.
The three victims were 84-year-old Bart Rainey, of Irondale, 75-year-old Sharon Yeager, of Pelham, and 84-year-old Jane Pounds, of Hoover.
The Vestavia Voice wrote about those services and on the life and legacy these three people left behind.
For more information on the shooting itself, visit Vestavia Voice.
Bart Rainey
In the final act of his life, Bart Rainey represented his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, better than perhaps he even knew he could.
Rainey, according to his family and local media reports, invited a man he did not know to come sit with him during a potluck dinner at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 16. That man declined Rainey’s request before pulling out a handgun and fatally shooting Rainey, 84, Sharon Yeager, 75, and Jane Pounds, 84.
“His last act, an act of compassion, taught us all what Jesus’s love really meant,” said the church’s rector, the Rev. John Burruss, at a June 22 memorial service for Rainey.
Rainey led through inclusion and hospitality at the end of his life just as he did throughout his 84 years, Burruss said.
“Papa’s last acts of welcome and kindness, they weren’t the exception,” said Rainey’s grandson, Warner Thompson. “They were the rule.”
Rainey taught others to love, and to love the stranger, Burruss said.
Thompson said the first news of his grandfather’s death “nearly knocked” the family down with grief, but it “no longer feels like a tragedy” thanks to the blessings they have received from the surrounding community and the grace they know Rainey showed in his last moments.
“It has brought us all to our knees, but not with anguish,” Thompson said.
“Papa,” as he was called by his grandchildren, was a “giant” in their lives, Thompson said — never missing a game, performance or recital, and teaching them how to drive.
Rainey’s younger brother, Tuffy, said he can’t remember a time in his life when Bart Rainey wasn’t there for him.
“This is a week like no other,” Tuffy said. “This kind of news is for the TV, but this week it came home, and it broke my heart into a thousand pieces.”
While Tuffy said no one had the answers as to why all of this happened, he knows what his older brother would have said.
“It’s time to get your stuff together and keep moving forward,” he said.
Tuffy said he never asked his brother when he became a Christian, but that he didn’t have to. Growing up in the same home, a strong Christian faith was instilled in them as children. His older brother’s faith in Christ was the “basis of his character,” Tuffy said.
Bart had a “servant’s heart,” Tuffy said. When he saw a need, he wanted to fix it, no matter the problem, big or small. Every time they ended a phone conversation, he’d say, “Tuff, I don’t need anything. I just wanted to check in.”
Bart walked “hand in hand” with Christ, Tuffy said.
“Now he’s home, in perfect peace,” Tuffy said. “No doubt.”
Sharon Yeager
Sharon Yeager faithfully drove each Sunday for services at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, said the church’s associate rector, the Rev. Katherine Harper, at a June 22 memorial service.
Yeager was one of three people killed in a shooting June 16 at the church, along with 84-year-old Bart Rainey and 84-year-old Jane Pounds.
“The Lord is Sharon’s shepherd,” Harper said, quoting Psalm 23. “And yet, we are left grieving today.”
Harper said her weeks “will not feel quite right” without Yeager checking in.
Reading from John 11, when Jesus tells Martha that “those who believe in me, though they die, they will live,” Harper said that response is “the response we get to hold onto as the good news today.”
“Friends, I can hear Jesus asking Sharon that same question, ‘Sharon, do you believe?’ And I know, without fumbling, her response has been a resounding, ‘Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah,’” Harper said.
For Sharon, that promise of God brings hope, Harper said. For those left behind, it “leaves us with the opportunity to cling to hope,” she said.
“The tragedies of Thursday night have taught us lots of things, and maybe the things you have learned are different or the same as the things I have learned,” Harper said. “But I know that Sharon was never alone. She was surrounded by her friends, and then she met with the angels.”
“Sharon was not alone when she ascended with the angels, and the Holy Spirit will not leave us empty,” Harper said. “So, let us continue praying for one another and with one another in the hope of resurrection.”
While the church is “still a scary space, and a hurting, hard space to be in,” it is also a place of love, Harper said.
“We are bound together in the love of God, to show our love for God and for one another,” Harper said.
Harper closed her message to the congregation by telling them of a picture Sharon sent her recently: a beautiful sunset. A sunset, Harper said, that had just the right amount of Auburn orange and blue. That sunset, she said, reminded her of the “glowing love of Christ that cannot be darkened.”
Harper told those gathered that she hoped a sunset would help them in this difficult time.
“And when you smile and see a sunset today, I pray that you will feel God’s comfort, if only for a moment,” Harper said.
Jane Pounds
In the week following a deadly shooting claimed the lives of three church members, the parishioners at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church “learned again what it means to be the body of Christ,” said the church’s rector, the Rev. John Burrus.
They were prepared for that role in part due to “Saint Jane” — 84-year-old Jane Pounds, a Hoover resident who was one of the victims.
Pounds helped at the church, serving on the vestry and as senior warden, as well as serving in many other roles, according to her obituary.
“Friends, Jane is in the loving arms of our Savior,” Burruss said at her memorial service on June 23. “She has prepared us to be the body of Christ. A martyr, like Saint Stephen … Saint Jane. And our faith will never be the same.”
At the service, Pounds’s son, Crawford, said she was an “incredible servant,” who had many different passions, including Alabama sports (especially football), exercise and her faith in Christ and life at St. Stephen’s.
“There is not a conversation, not one, where we didn’t talk about Alabama football, probably,” Crawford said.
His mother worried about things like who would be the backup quarterback, how to replace departed receivers and other things, Crawford said. During this year’s national title game against Georgia, which the Crimson Tide ultimately lost, the stress was too much for Pounds. She listened to the game on a transistor radio and spent time cleaning her house instead, Crawford said.
Having a love for Alabama sports in common brought the pair closer together, he said.
Crawford said his mother was always active.
“Jane Pounds’s hands were never idle,” he said.
She was a teacher and would, at times, be a substitute teacher in her children’s classes.
“That was the substitute teacher you did not want,” Crawford said. “You wanted your regular teacher.”
Students could expect to learn that day, he said. There would be no movies or running around the room.
“My mother was loving, but she was not soft,” he said.
Pounds often ran, and when she was no longer able to do so, she walked. She didn’t mind if her sons or others came with her, but when she decided to go, she was going, with or without you, Crawford said.
Throughout his life, Crawford said he never had to worry about whether he was loved. His mom, he said, was a “great prayer warrior.” When Pounds got to heaven, he said, she came ready to serve.
“I hope God was ready when she got there,” he said.
Despite the tragedy that has come to his family, Crawford said the family has had an “incredible peace” and encouraged everyone to pray for those affected by the shooting.
“She’s praying for every one of them; I can promise you right now,” Crawford said.
Being Jane Pounds’s son was a great honor, he said.
“I was so proud of her,” Crawford said. “We were all blessed to have her in our lives.”
Pounds’s oldest son, Jim, also spoke at the service. Telling his mom’s story meant telling the story of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he said.
She kept a wide circle of friends, Jim said.
“If Mom called you her friend, you were. If she told you she loved you, she meant it,” Jim said.
Jane Pounds would often encourage her children to “be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who need the good news,” Jim said.
While the family mourns for Pounds, Jim said they mourn “as a people of the cross and with hope, knowing that Christ’s work has rescued her and redeemed her.”
“She’s home,” Jim said. “May we never lose the wonder of God’s mercy. We’ll all be together one day soon. No more pain. No more tears. What a day that will be.”
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