The Creighton community continues to come together to mourn and remember the lives of the three students and one former student who died Saturday evening after swerving to avoid a deer and colliding with an oncoming vehicle.
Those in the vehicle were Business students Akuel Majouk, Jennifer Guzman, Yoselin “Yo-yo” Deleon and former student Mariana Ramirez.
The news came as many students were returning to Omaha from a weeklong fall break. In an email, Creighton University President, the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., informed students, faculty and staff of the tragedy and asked for the Creighton community to coalesce during this difficult time.
On Sunday evening, St. John’s Church exceeded its 750-person capacity as students, faculty, staff and members from the community came to show their support and mourn the lives of these four women. The Mass was presided by Hendrickson and concelebrated with other priests from the Omaha area. In his homily, Hendrickson stressed the importance of the Creighton family and community in times of tragedy.
“We gather tonight in remembrance of our classmates, our students, our sisters, our daughters, our friends,” Hendrickson said. “We do so in sadness, but we do so in solidarity. We are Creighton, and we are community.”
The Rev. Richard Hauser, S.J., commented on the gathering of the student body at the Mass.
“It was very good of Hendrickson to call the university together,” Hauser said. “The best thing is to be with others and here you have 800 people who knew and loved — who had some relationship with those who were killed — helping each other. Everything was so raw, but you [students] were not alone; you were together and you were also in God’s presence.”
According to Hauser, people remained in St. John’s following the Mass to grieve.
“I walked in about quarter to 10 p.m.,” Hauser said. “Mass was over but nobody was moving. They were just hugging each other and crying and you could hear the cry. When things like that happen, you have to cry.”
For Hauser, this is not the first time he has seen the Creighton community come together to mourn the loss of students. In 1981, two unrelated car accidents, just five weeks apart, took the lives of six Creighton students.
At the time, Hauser — a theology professor and chaplain living on the ninth floor of Swanson — spent many late nights consoling students and helping them find faith during the weeks and months following the accidents. Through the process, Hauser was moved by the questions surrounding God’s presence in times of pain. Ten years following the deaths, Hauser wrote a book entitled: “Finding God in Troubled Times.”
Hauser said when students were suffering, many had never suffered at that level before and they did not know how to bring their faith into dealing with that loss. According to Hauser, the basic question is: “Why is God doing this to us?”
As the Creighton body grieves now at the recent losses, Hauser said students cannot turn to all of the ‘whys.’
“Whenever you ask the ‘why’ question you’re off-track because you can’t ever answer the ‘why’ question,” Hauser said. “Why did that deer have to come out right in front of that car, right at the time when they were driving down the highway and right at the time there was another car coming toward them?
“You never will get any answer to that,” Hauser said. “The only way you can deal meaningfully is by having support of other human beings and having support of God.”
Following the two accidents in 1981, Hauser said he had never seen faith so actualized at Creighton University as when the students came together. Now, more than 30 years later, Hauser again sees this solidarity.
“I saw the community; it looks like the same pattern is repeating itself,” he said. “We talk about ‘One Creighton,’ and when people get together to support the people that were mourning our students, I think that this is a sign that we are ‘One Creighton.’
“Creighton comes together as a Catholic university when it mourns losses of its students better than in any other time,” Hauser said. “And I think that is one of the things we can offer to our students,” he added. “If we can help them use their faith to deal with the tragedies while they are at school then they are likely to use their faith to deal with tragedies when they leave here.”
In moving forward, Hauser advises students to hold subsequent gatherings; especially for the friends of the deceased. There are ways to bring light in this time of darkness.
“The best way to handle this is not to put it out of your mind, forget it ever happened, because you can’t,” said Hauser. “It happened and it’s deep in there. But if you can turn a tragedy into a way to help you reflect on life at a more deep level, then it can be redemptive for you.”
Three of the women (Deleon, Majouk and Guzman) were members of the Tau Delta chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma. After the news came through, other Sigma Lambda Gamma chapters and Greek organizations at various universities showed their support to the women on Facebook.
The University of Texas Dallas Sigma Lambda Alpha chapter said in a Facebook post: “Our deepest condolences goes out to the families & sisters of Sigma Lambda Gamma for losing these beautiful souls over the weekend. May they rest in peace.”
As the days pass, Creighton will remember the lives of these four women,” Hauser said.
“The way we honor the people we have lost, or the four students that were killed, is by remembering them and talking about them and thanking them for their presence in our life,” Hauser said. “Let them be a reminder to us of what our final destiny is. Let us never forget these students.”
In a statement from Vice President of Recruitment Business for Sigma Lambda Gamma, senior Eleanor Titiml, spoke on behalf of the sisters stating:
“We want them to be remembered for the positive, outgoing and lively spirits they each carried around with them. They each had a fiery zest for life and a passion for living in the moment. Everyone knew them as the life of the party, the jokers and the most down-to-earth. They were leaders in each of their own unique way; always bringing people together with laughter, joy and love.”
Associate Vice Provost for Student Life Wayne Young encourages students to come into Student Counseling Services or the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The Student Counseling Services are on the first floor of the Mike and Josie Harper Center and students can walk in or call (402)-280-2735 to make an appointment.
The Heider College of Business has canceled classes that occur during the three daytime funerals. The Student Counseling Services will have a counselor at all funerals and receptions for support and care.
The funeral services for the women are as follows:
-Yoselin “Yo Yo” Deleon: 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 at Our Lady of Guadelupe Catholic Church, 2310 O St., Omaha
-Jennifer Guzman: 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 at St. John’s Church
-Mariana Ramirez: 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 at Our Lady of Guadelupe Catholic Church, 2310 O St., Omaha
-Akuel Majouk: 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral, 701 N. 40th
St., Omaha
St. John’s Church exceeded its 750-seat capacity on Sunday evening during the Mass celebrating the lives of four members of the Creighton community who died Saturday.
The Creightonian