Mourners recall lives of slain mother, children
Gathering focuses on life, not death, minister says.
Sunday, January 6, 2002
By DAVID WAHLBERG
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than 400 people packed a flower-filled Ypsilanti High School auditorium Saturday to remember a mother and three children whose bodies were found off the Oregon coast last month.
The deaths of former Ypsilanti Township resident MaryJane Longo, 34, and her children Zachary, 4, Sadie, 3, and Madison, 2, brought many mourners to tears during the memorial service.
But the gathering was a chance to focus on life, not death, said Joseph Flowers, a Jehovah's Witnesses minister who was the only speaker at the 35-minute service. He said the deaths should be a wake-up call for people to focus on their relationship with God and question the importance they place on material things.
"MaryJane would certainly implore all of us here to reconsider where we're going with our lives," he said.
Police in Oregon allege that Christian Longo, 27, killed his wife and children. A nationwide search for him continues.
MaryJane Longo was active in the Golfside Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Pittsfield Township, while Flowers is at the Stadium Congregation in Ann Arbor. They knew each other because both worked for The Ann Arbor News delivering bundles of newspaper to carriers, Flowers said.
Speaking on the auditorium stage, flanked by more than 30 bright floral arrangements, Flowers said those who loved the Longos can look forward to seeing them again after the resurrection of Jesus Christ unites the living and the dead, a central tenet of the Jehovah's Witnesses' faith. As Flowers frequently quoted scripture, many in the crowd flipped through pages of Bibles they had carried to the service.
"The children and MaryJane are basically asleep, and they're not dreaming," he said. "They're not suffering. They're not in purgatory ... They're just asleep, waiting for the resurrection."
After the service, MaryJane Longo's father, James Baker of Traverse City, said his daughter was a caring mother who often served as a peacemaker growing up in a family with three sisters and a brother. Outside of family, the church was the most important thing in her life, he said.
Baker said he is shocked and confused by the idea that Christian Longo may have killed his family, saying his daughter never spoke ill of him. "He was a good father until this happened. We don't know what made him crack," Baker said. "We're not angry at him, we're not vengeful."
Other family members, who didn't want to be identified, said they recalled the three young Longo children as energetic kids who liked to swim and play outside. A table outside the auditorium Saturday displayed photos of Zachary climbing a white painter's ladder, Sadie sitting next to a basket of flowers and Madison with MaryJane.
Christian Longo's parents, Joe and Joy Longo of Indianapolis, attended the service. Through a spokesman, they issued a statement that read, in part:
"We are moved by the overwhelming expressions of love and sympathy we have received ... While our minds must continue to deal with the investigation, our hearts are focused on the innocent lives lost."
Christian Longo, charged with seven counts of aggravated murder, is also wanted on a larceny charge and a forgery-related probation violation in Washtenaw County. He was last seen Dec. 26 in San Francisco, according to police. San Francisco area police investigated other possible sightings in the area Friday, but no strong leads were announced, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The bodies of MaryJane Longo and her children were not in Ann Arbor for the visitation at Nie Funeral Home Saturday morning or for the memorial service Saturday afternoon. Funeral home spokesman Todd Winter said the family will be buried in an upcoming private service.
. http://aa.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20020106a855a1longoservice06.frm