OMAHA, Neb.—Dozens of Boy Scouts in uniform were sprinkled through the crowds at two churches Tuesday morning, where hundreds gathered to remember two Omaha boys killed last week when a tornado flattened an Iowa Boy Scout camp.
Sam Thomsen, 13, was shy “to a degree,” his former Bible school teacher said.
“But he was always willing to do the things you asked him to do,” whether it was to start a song or lead a prayer, said Rose Marie Glover. She taught Sam in her first- and second-grade classes Wednesday night at Southwest Church of Christ in Omaha, where his funeral was held Tuesday.
Ben Petrzilka, 14, always helped Sister Stephanie Matcha with service projects, she recalled, standing outside services at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church about a mile away from Thomsen’s service.
Petrzilka was mature for his age and very service-oriented, she said, adding “he really worked at embodying the meaning of being a Boy Scout.”
The two boys—along with Josh Fennen, 13, of Omaha and Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa—died on Wednesday, when a storm swept through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa, about 40 miles north of Omaha. Forty others were injured, and two remained hospitalized Tuesday.
Boy Scout officials said the camp will be closed for the summer, and they’re working to relocate scheduled activities.
“These things aren’t supposed to happen,” said Pastor Jim White, who led Sam’s service. “I mean, they happen, but they’re not supposed to happen to us.”
But “God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous,” White said.
A slide show at Sam’s funeral showed pictures of a skinny boy with big ears and a toothy grin.
He was adopted by his parents, Sharon and Larry, and had two older sisters. He was homeschooled, and was just days shy of his 14th birthday.
Posted on the church Web site is a sermon he wrote about his namesake, the biblical Samuel. Sam wrote that Samuel had the “guts” to tell a priest and a king that God was displeased.
“Do you ever like giving bad news?” he wrote. “… I mean REALLY bad news like, ‘A tornado hit your house and everything’s gone.’ Samuel did that.”
At Ben’s funeral, tables displayed Boy Scout badges, baseball bats and pictures of a boy who loved to fish and camp. The Scout Law was printed on the back of the program: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, friendly ….
Friends and family said Ben was all of those.
He was the son of Bryan and Arnell and had a younger brother. He would have been an eighth-grader at his church’s Catholic school, where his Boy Scout troop held its meetings.
His family is raising money to build storm shelters at the 1,800-acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch, and possibly at other camps, too.
John Nordmeyer, Ben’s uncle, said his sister, Ben’s mother, “wants Scouts to keep scouting.”
“She wants boys to keep camping, and she wants the moms to let them,” Nordmeyer said.
The family set up funds at Omaha State Bank and First National Bank. Nordmeyer said contractors have offered their services, and they’ve received donations from as far away as California.
“We know we want to do it right,” he said. “We want to build these right the first time.”
Funeral services were held Monday in West Point for Aaron Eilerts. He and his parents had lived there until his dad got a new job about four years ago and they moved to Eagle Grove, in the north-central part of Iowa.
A memorial service for Josh Fennen was held Saturday in Omaha, and he was to be buried in Texas.
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On the Net:
Southwest Church of Christ:
Boy Scouts, Mid-America Council: .
