By KATHY PAULSEN
Staff Writer
The recent tragic events that occurred were a shock to our area families. These were great people who did their best to live a productive, happy life and were available to help those who needed help and did it with a smile. They were not without pain and sadness, but they turned it into love for others.
Mike Baynes had a job only a caring person could handle. As an Associate Director of Student Life on the Saint Catherine University in Minneapolis, Baynes had a following of students, friends and co-workers who recognized what he was. He can't take all the credit. He was brought up in a good two-party home with parents who cared. They taught him well.
The church was overflowing and there were also tears of sadness from many students who came from the Twin Cities to show respect for one who showed them respect. Bayne’s message of hope and peace was something he lived, shared and taught.
Loss always hurts, but it also shows that people care and share the love of a good person. The minister said it was the most people he had ever seen in the church. How many more were there in spirit?
And then there were two: Sue and Zoe McDonough, a loving grandmother and her 10-year-old granddaughter. It was a strange incident no one could have foreseen and it took two precious people.
"They were such nice individuals," it was said. “There was always a smile on Sue’s face, a good word for everyone, and never a complaint or a ‘feel-sorry-for-me’ attitude.
Sue worked hard and loved well. She left a legacy of loving children whose personalities matched that of herself and her husband, Mike. They did things together and enjoyed every bit of it.
It is tragic that a special trip to visit her son, his wife, and her grandchildren should take her life and the life of her granddaughter, but she was there enjoying those grand kids — darling children patterned after the children she raised and passed on to her grandchildren.
People turned out in a mass to pray, sing, listen and shed tears as they remembered the happy days. As long as we remember our loved ones, they are here to stay, seemed to sum up the feeling for the day.
