20 November 2009
Vol. 55, Issue 8

The last issue of Fall 2009 will be published on Nov. 30.
Deadline for that issue is Tuesday, Nov. 17.

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On the afternoon of Tues., Nov. 17, Ferrum senior Jessica Kenzel ("Jess") Goode, 23, died after being shot by a deer hunter on property adjacent to the campus. Goode, sophomore Regis Boudinot, and junior Tyler Kraft were walking in the woods when the shooting occurred. Boudinot was wounded in the arm and hand and underwent surgery Tuesday night. A campus memorial service was held in Vaughn Chapel on Wed., Nov. 18, at 10 a.m. Jess Goode was an environmental science major from Winchester, Va., who would have completed degree requirements at the end of the fall semester.

The hunter, Jason Cloutier, 31, of Ferrum, was charged with manslaughter, reckless handling of a firearm, and trespassing. Cloutier's wife is a Ferrum College alumna, and his mother-in-law, also a Ferrum alumna, is a current college employee.

It has been said that a good newspaper is "a community talking to itself."
In that spirit, The Iron Blade invites your comments on the event
and your memories of Jessica Goode.

Please send your response to Dr. Lana Whited, at lwhited@ferrum.edu.

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View Jessica Goode's obituary at the Jones Funeral Home web site
and sign the memory book

Comments

11.18.09

Dear Campus Community:

Today we will grieve together and try to begin the healing process as we honor the memory of Jess Goode, the beautiful woman and student we knew and loved. The special 10 AM hour of prayer at the chapel will allow us to gather as a community, but we also know that class time will offer additional opportunities for faculty, students and friends to reflect upon this tragedy. Coaches, staff and counselors will continue to be available throughout the day and evening, and we ask all with special concerns to reach out to one of them.

We lift up Jess' family and friends and all those affected by this terrible event, and we give special thanks for Regis and Tyler. We ask for God's wisdom, grace and care for all of our community.

Dr. Jennifer L. Braaten
President

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I cannot imagine the soul-crushing weight that bore down upon our college president, Administrative Council, Wes Astin, Emergency responders, Public Relations personnel, and others too numerous to name when the news of this tragedy was relayed. How do you begin to gather the strength necessary to reach out to the families, student body, colleagues, and community with the grace and compassion they all exhibited? My God, we are blessed with strong leadership at this college. I would like to ask that while we hold up Jess’s family and Regis in prayer that we not forget to pray also for our college president, our administrative council, our Dean of the Chapel, and all of the others that take the point in a situation like this one. May God bless them all with the strength and comfort of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name.
Anonymous

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My Prayer and thoughts goes out to Jessica Goode family. Just know she is in a better place and she will smiling down on all of us. I send my deepest sympathy to all that have been affected by this tragic moment.
God Bless
Dominique Jordan

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11.19.09

On behalf of the Virginia Tech community, the Student Government Association wishes to extent our deepest sympathies to you and your college community. The recent events came as a surprise to all and we are very sorry to hear about the misfortune that has fallen upon the Ferrum College campus.

Please let us known whether there is anything we can do to help during this difficult time; we are here to support you all in this saddening time. We understand it is a difficult time foryou all and are sorry for the misfortune. Just know you are in our thoughts and we hope for these times to pass.

Our sincere thoughts and prayers are with you.

With our deepest sympathy,

Brandon J. Carroll, class of 2010
President, The Student Government Association of Virginia Tech

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Meteor

for Jess Goode

I saw you from afar
A bright light shining
I looked at the faces surrounding you
Joy and laughter
I wondered who you were
Someone said your name
Heart wide open
Your brightness flashed through me.
I saw you from afar
But knew you as the sparkling meteor of joy.

Dr. Mary Ann Norman
Director of Teacher Education

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We were all so sorry to hear about the accidental shooting death of a Ferrum student this week. I’m sure this is a very difficult time for you and your campus. Please know we are thinking of you.

Anne B. Keeler
VP for Finance
Bridgewater College

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I was shocked and saddened to learn of the accidental shooting death of one of your students earlier this week. The Ferrum University Family is in our prayers.

Warm Regards

John H. Russell, Ph.D.
President, McMurry University
(McMurray University is in Texas)

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To you Jess . . .

Even though we didn't hang out that much, when we did we had a blast! I'll always remember Spring Fling 09 and the poor man's pool. lol. Hope you have fun up there still being the Wedo girl/mom. I'll miss you girl.

Ashley France

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I am certain Jessica would not want her death to be a warning to others to stay away from the woods—which she loved so dearly. If we were all to take a negative view that every accident that happens is a warning, we would not drive cars, fly in airplanes, go near any city or leave our houses at night. We would be too busy embracing our fears 24/7, like a world filled with cowards and unable to express any passion for life. I believe fear is faith in evil. As the pastor said (in the memorial service) today, “Ye though I walk through the Valley of Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil.”

Charles Shea LeMone

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11.20.09

The loss of any student is tragic, but the death of Jess within a few weeks of graduation seems especially cruel. We already miss the twinkle in her eye, her inquisitive nature and challenging questions. Ferrum has grown dimmer without her light.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." -- Henry David Thoreau.
To borrow a line from the end of “Second Hand Lions”: You lived Jess, you really lived...
Delia

Dr. Delia R Heck
Associate Professor of Environmental Science
Director of Assessment & Institutional Research

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To Jess’ family: The entire Ferrum family mourns the loss of Jess. Know that she will always be a Ferrum alumna.

Lew Hege
Head Tennis Coach

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Dear Dr. Braaten:

As the pastor and on the behalf of the Rocky Mount Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we offer to you, the students and families of Ferrum College, our deepest sympathy in the tragic hunting accident that took the life of one student and injured another this week at Ferrum.

We have been so fortunate and blessed to have a student from the college, Yuji Hairston, in service to Christ Jesus through the ministries of our congregation. His work among us has been a light and help. Yuji has led us to an even deeper appreciation of the fine college student body you have been called to lead.

One can never understand why these tragedies happen. I know that your student body, faculty, and staff are in the midst of terrible grief and shock. Please know that all of you are in our prayers and thoughts. Such accidents remind us of how fragile our lives are upon this earth and how at any moment they can be changed. In this time of grief and change, we offer our prayers for healing. We pray that God will be with you, giving you strength and wisdom, as you lead the college family through this period of sorrow.

If there is anything I can personally do or we as a congregation can do, please know that we stand ready to be called upon.

Sincerely yours,

The Reverend Jody A. Johnson and
The members of Rocky Mount Christian Church

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Despite the fact that we are a small college community, it is possible for a student to go through his or her entire college career without meeting everybody at Ferrum. I don't think I ever, on any occasion, met Jess Goode or that she made any tangible impact on my life-- until now. Over the last few days, as I have watched students whom I love trying to cope with their overwhelming grief, I have been struck by our interconnectedness, the ways that we are inextricably bound to each other, and the ways that I am affected by the tragic death of this young woman whom I did not have the good fortunate to know and who has obviously inspired so many of us. I was reminded of John Donne's famous poem "No Man is an Island":

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of they friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore do not send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Dr. Lana A. Whited
Professor of English & Director of the Boone Honors Program

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