Victims of Kalamazoo shootings remembered
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Enquirer is contacting family and friends of the shooting victims of the Kalamazoo attacks. This story will be updated as more information is gathered.
Two days after the attacks, loved ones are mourning the deaths of the victims of the random shootings this weekend in Kalamazoo County.
Six were killed and two others were severely injured in a series of attacks Saturday night. Authorities said 45-year-old Jason Dalton opened fire at an apartment complex, a car dealership and a restaurant's parking lot before being arrested during a traffic stop downtown.
Authorities identified six victims Sunday: Mary Jo Nye, Barbara Hawthorne and Judy Brown of Battle Creek; Mary Lou Nye of Baroda; and Richard and Tyler Smith of Mattawan.
A 14-year-old girl who has not been identified remains in critical condition. The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said Monday that it is respecting the wishes of an eighth victim and not releasing her name at this time. She remains in serious condition.
Mary Jo Nye: 'Like a mother to a lot of kids'
Mary Jo Nye, 60, was a former teacher at Calhoun Community High School, the school's assistant director Tara Egnatuk confirmed Sunday.
Nye taught English at the alternative high school. Egnatuk said Nye was an "integral part of" founding the school, working on its original charter. Nye retired about four years ago, Egnatuk said, but continued to attend the school's graduation every year.
"She became like a mother to a lot of kids," she said.
Nye also was a board member at the Haven of Rest Ministries, according to Enquirer archives.
Nye was one of the four victims who was shot at the Cracker Barrel in Texas Township. Michigan State Police said Nye was sitting in the driver's seat of a Chevrolet Cruze in the restaurant's parking lot.
On Monday, several of Nye’s former colleagues remembered her as a caring teacher who went the extra mile to help her students.
“She cared about kids and did anything she could to help them,” said Brian Demlow, who worked with Nye for about 10 years, in a news release. “She did a lot of things for other people, both students and staff alike. She will be missed.”
Lisa Ryan, who taught with Nye for 15 years, said in a news release that Nye was “always reaching out to others and helping families.”
“And it’s so senseless that she was taken out by somebody so random,” Ryan continued. “It just doesn’t make sense. Mary Jo saw helping others as her calling in both her professional and personal life. It’s a tragedy.”
Besides being a caring teacher, Nye was also a devoted Christian and community volunteer and a great cook, loved ones and friends say.
Nye, who attended Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Battle Creek, was a leader in the laity and was on the church’s human resources committee, Chapel Hill Pastor Chad Parmalee told the Enquirer.
“She spoke the truth whenever she saw it; she spoke reason into conversation when things got out of hand,” Parmalee said. “You could always count on her to bring us back together. She was caring and nurturing.”
Nye was also a former board member at the Haven of Rest Ministries and a “treasured” volunteer, according to a Haven news release.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Nye family, and with all the victims’ families of Saturday night’s senseless violence,” according to the news release.
Nye was engaged to Charlotte resident Lynn Wagner, 76, who she met at a Christian camp when she was 19.
After several years, Nye visited Wagner’s household when his late wife was sick. After his wife passed away, Nye also visited Wagner when he had health issues. They stayed close ever since.
“She was compassionate about other people,” Wagner said. “She cared about them.”
Judy Brown, 74: ‘A compassionate, gentle soul’
Judy Brown was a kind person known for her love of others.
The 74-year-old was a Lakeview High School graduate who regularly met with old classmates, said her friend, Marilynn Miles. Brown, whose legal name was Dorothy but who went by her middle name, was from the family who originally owned Knight’s Appliances in Urbandale.
Shooting victim Judy Brown: 'A compassionate, gentle soul'
“We’re all so shocked and saddened,” Miles told the Enquirer Monday morning.
Brown was in the back seat, behind the driver, of Mary Jo Nye’s Chevrolet Cruze when she was killed. Brown, Nye, Hawthorne and the 14-year-old girl were returning to the parking lot of the Cracker Barrel, where they had dinner before seeing a show at Western Michigan University’s Miller Auditorium. Mary Lou Nye, 62, was in a separate vehicle. The attack was the last in the series of random shootings before Dalton was arrested during a traffic stop.
Miles said Brown attended Hillsdale College and then Western Michigan University. She previously served as head of the Brown County Chamber of Commerce in south-central Indiana and also had lived in Florida.
Just last spring, she had retired from Guardian Finance and Advocacy Services in Battle Creek.
“She really enjoyed that work,” Miles said. “And all of us were encouraging her to retire and enjoy her life. And she just felt so connected to those people and often did things for them out of her own pocket and on her own time.
“She loved animals and she loved elderly people.”
Dave Kirby, CEO of Guardian, said Brown worked there for almost 10 years. “She did love this work, and she did a fabulous job at it,” he said.
Brown helped seniors manage their money, often sitting in their kitchens and drinking coffee as she assisted with bills, Kirby said. In one case, she helped save a man’s home from tax foreclosure.
Kirby said he saw Brown last week, when she stopped in to congratulate him on his upcoming retirement. She had told him that in her own retirement, “she was having a ball,” Kirby said.
“She was a compassionate, gentle soul,” he said, “always with a smile and a hug.”
Miles said Brown has two adult sons, both of whom live out of the state.
Patrick Mallon Jr., a neighbor of Brown, told the Associated Press that she was known to come over with herbs grown in her garden. They lived near each other for about a decade, and Brown watched his cat when he was on vacation.
Barbara Hawthorne
Barbara Hawthorne, 68, was in the backseat on the passenger's side of Mary Jo Nye's car when she was killed, police said.
In a statement Sunday night, Kellogg Co. Chairman and CEO John Bryant said Hawthorne had worked for the company for 22 years. She retired in 2008, he said.
“We are deeply saddened by these tragic events and brokenhearted to learn that one of the victims, Barbara Hawthorne, belonged to our Kellogg family," Bryant said in the statement. "She retired in 2008 after 22 years of Kellogg service. Our thoughts and prayers are with Barbara’s family and friends, as well as all of the victims of this crime and their families."
Mary Lou Nye: 'She had a servant's heart'
Mary Nye, 62, was a longtime branch manager for the Michigan Secretary of State and a part-time employee at the Immanuel Lutheran Ministries in Bridgman, not far from her home in Baroda.
Nye started work with the department in 1978 and held several different roles within the agency before retiring in 2010.
Lena Strong, who worked with Nye for about 15 years in South Haven and Benton Harbor, said she had "a good personality," and was dedicated to the work she did. Strong said Nye's greatest strength was in her ability to teach others the right way to do the job, often instructing them to look up information in a manual so they would know how to find it.
"Well, being with her as long as I was and being trained by her from scratch, I’m thankful I had her for a teacher, that she taught me my job," Strong said. "Because she taught me my job, I can help the others here because if you didn’t know where to find it, she’s show you where to look. I’m thankful I had a great teacher."
Once she retired, she took a job with the Immanuel Lutheran Ministries, where she prepared food, worked with children and did some janitorial work, according to Pastor Jon Bendewald .
Bendewald said Nye "always had a smile," rarely complaining of any task she was asked to do.
"She had a servant’s heart," he said. "She was always willing to do whatever was asked of her without any kind of complaint, especially if it involved the children. She thoroughly enjoyed that."
Nye lived in Baroda with her husband of 40 years, Chris Nye, who also is Mary Jo Nye's brother. She had two children, Bart, 40, and John, who died in 1989, Bendewald said.
A neighbor of the Nyes, Carole Dinges, told the Associated Press Sunday the couple lived in a camper while their house was fixed after a tornado hit about five years ago. Despite the period of adversity, Dinges said Mary maintained a positive outlook while rebuilding their damaged home.
"She was just a loving, caring lady," Chris Nye said. "She liked to read, she liked to cook, she liked to sew, she liked to knit. And she liked he job because she got to play with the babies at the daycare center."
Richard and Tyler Smith
Seventeen-year-old Tyler Smith and his 53-year-old father, Richard, were the victims killed at the Seelye Kia of Kalamazoo dealership on Stadium Drive at about 10 p.m. Saturday, the Mattawan Consolidated Schools superintendent confirmed Sunday.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tyler and his family, friends and the community," Superintendent Robin Buchler said in a statement Sunday. "The Mattawan crisis team, as well as the Van Buren Intermediate School District crisis team, and the Gryphon Place staff will be on hand to offer grief counseling to students and staff tomorrow and in the days that follow."
Buchler told the Enquirer in a phone call that Smith was a high school senior.
"Our students, of course, are on social media and they're really concerned and scared a little bit," she said, "and fearful when it's such a random thing and it doesn't make sense. They aren't able to understand it. We have a lot of work today and we want to make sure that we can help our students process and our staff process this tomorrow, and all week and the next. This is never a one-day thing."
Buchler did not have further information on Smith's father.
Chris Keenan, the owner of Portage-based Kingdom Sports, said Tyler used to play for the organization’s soccer teams and even acted as a referee last year.
Keenan, who was his soccer coach, told the Enquirer that Tyler was a strong and fast athlete who played offensive positions.
“He was a very talented soccer player, number one,” Keenan said. “(A) great teammate to everybody on the team and just, I think, at the end of the day, an exemplary young man. You could see his potential.”