Death of 4 JWs After Returning From Cruise

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Close friends died returning from cruise ship vacation
BY TIM O'NEIL Of the Post-Dispatch
11/13/2002 09:40 PM

From left to right: Frances Madison, 48, John A. Madison III, 49, Angela Pendelton, 41 and Bryant Pendelton, 42

The Madisons and the Pendletons were best friends from church, returning to St. Louis County from a dream cruise to the Bahamas. The two couples called from Miami, bubbling with enjoyment, to tell their children they'd be home soon.

But when relatives went to Lambert Field to pick them up Tuesday morning, the four inexplicably were not on the flight.

Worried family members soon noticed CNN reports of a bad wreck in Florida. It was a fiery crash of a taxicab and two trucks on the main highway between the Port of Miami and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where the absent four were supposed to begin their last leg home.

"We started putting two and two together," Christine Washington, sister of one of the travelers, said Wednesday. She explained how it wasn't until a visit from an Olivette police officer about 2 a.m. Wednesday that her family learned the worst: All four were killed.

"The only thing keeping us going is Jehovah," she said. "As Angela and Bryant would say, 'See you at the resurrection.'"

She was talking about her sister, Angela Pendleton, 41, and Angela's husband, Bryant Pendleton, 42, who lived in Olivette. They died with their friends John A. Madison III, 49, and Frances Madison, 48, of Kirkwood.

Also killed was the cabdriver, Jean Carlos Gernier, 36, of Miami.

The crash happened about 10 a.m. St. Louis time Tuesday on northbound Interstate 95 near Hollywood, Fla., about 10 miles short of the airport.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Gernier apparently changed lanes in front of an empty gasoline tank truck, setting off a chain-reaction accident that involved another truck. The five occupants of the taxi died when wreckage went up in a fireball; both truck drivers escaped without serious injury.

It was only three hours after the two couples had left their Norwegian Cruise Line ship in Miami.

Relatives said they had known one another since they were young adult members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

John Madison was best man in the Pendletons' wedding. The Madisons belonged to the Des Peres congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Pendletons to Midtown, but they often attended services and social events together.

They had gone on short trips, but this had been their first cruise as a foursome.

"They were all such positive, loving, big-hearted people," Christine Washington said. "Everybody loved them. Together, they brought life to any place they went."

The Madisons leave two children, John "Alex" Madison V, 23; and Stacey Madison, 21, both of Kirkwood. The Pendletons leave a daughter, Breanna, 13.

Family members said John Madison III was employed by Express Scripts Inc. in Earth City. Before that, he had worked for 23 years in the tour department at the Anheuser-Busch brewery south of downtown. Frances Madison had been a walking counselor, or hall monitor, at Kirkwood High School for seven years.

"She was really beloved by the students," said Deb Ayers, an assistant superintendent. "The kids had the walls plastered (Wednesday) with posters and notes saying how much they'll miss her."

The Pendletons' relatives said Bryant Pendleton had been a pastry chef for several supermarkets, and recently began working at the state auto-emissions testing station near his home. Angela Pendleton was a paralegal for Monsanto Co.

Relatives said they spoke by telephone to the two couples Tuesday morning shortly after they left the ship.

"Frances said they'd had a wonderful time and was joking about still wearing shorts because the weather was so beautiful down there," said Myrtle North, mother of Frances Madison. "I told her it was cooler up here and they'd better change, but she said they were headed right away to the airport."

Alex Madison went to Lambert Field Tuesday afternoon to pick up his parents, and waited several hours after the couples did not return on their assigned flight. Nephew Djuan Stone was there to retrieve the Pendletons.

A Kirkwood police dispatcher who knew Frances Madison in high school broke the news to their family at the station about 9 p.m. Tuesday, Alex Madison said.

North said her daughter began working at Kirkwood High, her alma mater, after staying home to raise the two children. The cruise was their first big vacation trip.

Said a tearful Stacey Madison, "They never had much of a chance to get away much, so this was something they could do with friends. I'm just glad they got to take that trip and have such a good time."

When their mother called, Alex Madison said, she began by saying with excitement, "'You guys been doing anything fun?' She said they'd get in about 5:30. And she said she loved us."

Washington said her sister, Angela Pendleton, had won airplane tickets at the Taste of St. Charles event at the Family Arena in August. That good fortune led the two couples to put together plans for the cruise.

The families said the remains would be cremated. A joint memorial service is pending at the Jehovah's Witnesses regional Assembly Hall, 953 Laredo Avenue in the Spanish Lake area of north St. Louis County.

Reporter Tim O'Neil:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8132

JT

sad to hear this , yet some crazy jw will say if they went on this cruise the week of the CO visit or Circuit assembly week---- THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE MEETINGS

blondie

Actually, cruises were addressed at the circuit assembly. The JWs are going on too many cruises. They have too much money and should be cutting back and regular pioneering.

Blondie

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Hey, James.

Don't you think that there are some (who knows how many?) JWs who will read that article and think that anyway (regardless of a CO visit or not)?

You know the die-hards will say, "See? Being at the meetings is a protection."

Personal experience: Last weekend, I went to Silver Spring, Maryland to watch a football game with my Dad. My wife asked, "You are going to miss a meeting for a football game?"

Yet, she didn't apply that logic when we went on a Cruise to Bermuda. Or when we vactioned in Ocean City, Maryland. Or when we vacationed at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

But if I died to or from my visit with Daddy, she would have said, "Brian should have been at the meeting."

JT

Actually, cruises were addressed at the circuit assembly. The JWs are going on too many cruises. They have too much

money and should be cutting back and regular pioneering.
Blondie

TELL ME YOU ARE KIDDING- i know you are not, man the wt gets all up into your biz

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Don't you think that there are some (who knows how many?) JWs who will read that article and think that anyway (regardless of a CO visit or not)?
You know the die-hards will say, "See? Being at the meetings is a protection."
Personal experience: Last weekend, I went to Silver Spring, Maryland to watch a football game with my Dad. My wife asked, "You are going to miss a meeting for a football game?"
Yet, she didn't apply that logic when we went on a Cruise to Bermuda. Or when we vactioned in Ocean City, Maryland. Or when we vacationed at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
But if I died to or from my visit with Daddy, she would have said, "Brian should have been at the meeting

as bad as i hate to agree with you i have no other choice for you are right you will get dogged and your wife's comment -sad , but so true. the way they reason literally goes against all logic

hey

I'm down town DC - we need to do lunch or something- hit me at work

202-336-8792

I used to live in silver spring when i first left bethel till we moved to Alexandria, now we live in the Suburbs of Prince George's County -- smile

May each of you today discover new and exciting things.

Death of 4 JWs After Returning From Cruise

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JT

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