Had Josephine Lee Echols not rushed from church into the face of danger, there would have been many more people to mourn, a minister said at her funeral service Wednesday morning.
Without her, there would have been many caskets lined up in front of the podium, said Christopher Hill, senior pastor of the Potter’s House of Denver. “She stood in the gap.”
Echols, 67, a registered nurse, was shot to death April 22 after she heard a car crash and ran from her church to help whoever might be hurt.
She had no weapon for protection, Hill said. Her shield was her faith in God.
Echols was shot five times outside New Destiny Christian Center in Aurora, where her son, DeLono DeShan Straham, is pastor. Echols’ nephew, Antonio Milow, an off-duty Denver cop, shot and killed the suspect, Kiarron Parker, 29.
About 50 Denver police officers, including Chief Robert White, and hundreds of other people attended the funeral, which was held at the Potter’s House.
Echols worked in the dialysis unit of Medical Center of Aurora South. In addition to Straham, she is survived by a daughter, Cynthia Renee Tolbert; six grandchildren; and four siblings.
Echols, who was affectionately known as “Momma Jo,” graduated from Faith Tech Bible School in Flint, Mich., and was an ordained minister. She sang in choirs, traveled to Israel with Benny Hinn Ministries and made sure her dialysis patients had a Christian TV channel to watch.
Her brother, the Rev. Felix Driver of Hempstead, N.Y., said if not for her encouragement, both he and her son would have been dead. Instead they are ministers.
Hill said Echols’ whole life was a church service, not just when she sat in New Destiny chapel, he said.
“Demons got nervous at the name of Momma Jo,” Hill said. She died as she lived, he said, protecting the house of God.
“She’s simply off duty in the presence of her God,” Hill said in prayer. “Thank you for her life.”
