Wednesday, July 14, 1999
Sidney says goodbye to slain teen-agers
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SIDNEY, Ohio — As a bereavement counselor, the Rev. Philip Chilcote knows the process of mourning.
And as mourners filed into the Cromes Funeral Home to pay respects to two teen slaying victims Tuesday, the Rev. Mr. Chilcote said he sensed a shift in the mourners' attitude after the arrest of quadruple-slaying suspect Lawrence Michael Hensley.
“I think that the fear is gone, now that he's been caught. But now, I think we're moving into a time of questioning — and a lot of anger and vengefulness,” the Rev. Mr. Chilcote said. “I'm interested in finding some healing.”
The Rev. Mr. Chilcote, president of the local ministerial association, said the group is organizing a candlelight vigil on the town square at 6 p.m. today to promote that healing.
The Rev. Kenneth Ellis, who conducted services Tuesday for 16-year-old cousins Tosha L. Barrett and Sherry R. Kimbler, prayed with the 300 mourners: “May God help us not to allow bitterness to override mercy. ... We pray that you help us to love instead of hate, to forgive instead of holding a grudge.”
The Rev. Mr. Ellis talked about the girls' lives, noting that although they were first cousins, they were also close friends.
He urged the girls' loved ones to seek God's help in coming to terms with their slayings.
Before the service, Sherry's mother, Cheryl Cai, placed a purple Beanie Baby bear in her daughter's casket as she sobbed, “My baby. My baby.”
Many of the mourners were young people, including a half-dozen girls in Taco Bell uniforms. One stood at Sherry's casket and made the sign of the cross.
One group of girls — who each brought a single, long-stemmed rose — included Melissa Nicodemus, 16, and Rachel Reynolds, 15. They showed off tiny smiley face scars on their left wrists, saying that Sherry urged them to use a cigarette lighter to sear that image into their skin as “friendship marks.”
They said Sherry had a matching scar, and it was she who was always smiling.
“She always made you happy when you were sad,” Melissa said. “We're going to miss her a bunch.”
Tosha and Sherry, in matching white caskets with silver trim, were loaded into two white hearses.
Later, they were buried in Glen Cemetery in nearby Port Jefferson, laid to rest the same way they had lived: side by side.
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