COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Sisters Stephanie and Rachel Works were opposites in some ways.
Dark-haired Stephanie, 18, liked old fashioned things like Jane Austen, chess and writing long letters. Rachel, 16, loved dance, drama, and text messaging and once dyed her hair red because she was tired of the blonde jokes.
Both girls, fatally shot while leaving church services Dec. 9, were remembered Wednesday mostly for what they shared in common—a love of travel, fostering deep friendships and their strong faith.
About 2,500 people gathered for a memorial service for the girls at New Life Church, where Matthew Murray went on a shooting spree that also wounded the Works’ father, David, and two others. David Works was released from the hospital Tuesday and the family held a private funeral for the girls earlier Wednesday.
Pastor Brady Boyd said Stephanie and Rachel, who went on mission trips to Brazil, China, and Mexico, lived passionately and didn’t take anything for granted. He reminded church members that the girls were now in heaven, their true home.
“Can you imagine the reception they got last Sunday? There must have been a party in heaven,” Boyd said.
David Works, who was pushed into church in a wheelchair, was surrounded by the girls’ mother, Marie, and daughters Laurie—Stephanie’s twin—and Grace, the family’s youngest daughter. David Works spoke briefly before the stage decorated with poinsettias for Christmas—saying he took new comfort in the words of Psalm 23, which hung on the wall of his grandparents’ Colorado cabin—”The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
At the close of the service Boyd told David Works that he was a good father and did all he could have done on the day of the shooting. Boyd said David Works, who was shot after he had gotten into the family van, was immediately disabled.
“It was so sudden. It was a crazy chaotic scene,” Boyd said.
A volunteer security guard shot and wounded Murray before he killed himself. Twelve hours earlier, Murray had killed two staff members of the Youth With a Mission missionary training center in Arvada, about 65 miles away, and wounded two others.
Stephanie and Rachel, who were both homeschooled, lived in Montana when they were younger and were members of the First Presbyterian Church in Whitefish through December 1995.
David Works is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and was an early champion of recognizing the descendants of Sally Hemings, the president’s house slave and alleged lover, as members of the Jefferson family.
Boyd said the Works family, who had been commuting about an hour from Denver to attend his church, would move to Colorado Springs so the church could offer them more support.
Aimee Donahue of Winchester, Va., who met Rachel on the Brazil trip 2 1/2 years ago, said she always felt loved and accepted by Rachel as they struggled with being teenagers.
Rachel had been set to visit her this week and she regretted not being able to give her a Maori necklace from New Zealand or show her how she looked now that her braces have been removed.
She said they both dreamed of living in New Zealand and helping teens struggling with depression there. She vowed to pick up Rachel’s “torch” and help fulfill some of her dreams.
“I have to finish some of my pages and maybe some of hers, too,” said Aimee who gave the necklace to Rachel’s sister Grace to wear.
Connie Schertel, who met Stephanie when she lived in Whitefish, Mont., said she remembered them both laughing and giggling during many of their phone calls. She said Stephanie was “in tune” with God and was quick to offer to pray for her or offer insight with a Bible verse.
“She never pretended to be something she wasn’t,” she said.
