A row of hearses sat in the parking lot outside Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church Monday, one for each of the four caskets inside.
The first cries rang out inside the church at around 12:45 p.m., shortly after the organ player began a slow, somber hymn.
By the time the family of Castella Maria Bell and her three children filed into the packed church 15 minutes later, hardly a dry eye remained. Bell and her children, TaNayia, 4, Jayvion, 3, and Samiya, 6 months, were four of the nine people who died Dec. 28 in the Academy Crossing Apartments fire, just two miles north of Spring Hill MB Church on Old Highway 25.
The Bells” funeral Monday drew hundreds, from family, friends and coworkers to city officials, Red Cross workers and television news crews.
“We do not know the reason why the Lord allowed this to happen, but we know it happened for a reason,” Bell”s cousin, Elmira Johnson, said after the service. “God has a reason for everything.”
At 18 years old, Bell was a young mother working at McDonalds to support her family. The Bells had fallen on hard times recently and moved in with India Williams, 25, her three children and another woman, Lakesha Gillespie, 20, at Williams” Academy Crossing apartment a week or two before the fire. Bell was eulogized Monday as a woman who was trying to turn her life around.
“I had one of the greatest privileges as a minister to be able to talk to Maria,” said Dr. S. Lee Cummings, of Spirit and Truth Ministries in Tupelo. “I didn”t ask her. She asked me, ”Can we talk?”
“Maria was not lost in her mind,” Cummings said. “Maria was not lost in her heart. She was simply lost in this world.”
Bell joined Mount Pelier Missionary Baptist Church at a young age and later united with Spring Hill MB Church. She was baptized at Spirit and Truth Ministries in April.
Pastor Edward Williams, of Spring Hill MB Church, also had a conversation with Bell in recent months.
“She came to this ministry a few months ago, sad, but she came,” Williams said. “She came to this ministry single and alone, but she came. And I thank God that she came.”
Bell was a member of the Girl Scout troop at Mount Pelier, enjoyed basketball and attended Starkville city schools. On Monday, Bell was remembered as a woman with a big heart who loved her children.
Another of Bell”s cousins, Stephanie Stevenson, said the family is doing “as well as can be expected” in the wake of the tragedy.
Despite the tears Monday, friends, family and church members urged each other to celebrate the Bell family”s life instead of mourning the loss. But the line between celebration and mourning was a hard line to cross for the grieving family and friends who cried throughout the funeral.
“I know that this is an ongoing celebration,” Williams said. “Though it may not feel much like a celebration, it is an ongoing celebration. You ask yourself the question, ”How can you celebrate when there”s hurt? How can you celebrate when there”s family?” This is when you must move beyond the natural, for the natural can”t celebrate death. The natural can”t rejoice in death, but the spirit — the spirit can rejoice in death …”
Funeral services for Gillespie, who lived at the apartment with Williams, are scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Public Cemetery.
Visitation for Williams is scheduled for 2-6 p.m. today at West Memorial Funeral Home, 103 Jefferson St., Starkville. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the city”s Sportsplex, located at 405 Lynn Lane. Burial will follow at Rest Haven Cemetery.
How to help
DONATIONS: Residents displaced by the fire are being aided by the Oktibbeha County chapter of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross is also collecting money to help families with funeral expenses. To donate, donate to, send funds and other items to 100 Felix Long Drive, Starkville, MS 39759, or call 662-323-4621.
Restaurant fundraiser
The Little Dooey restaurant in Starkville will donate 15 percent of its Wednesday sales and 100 percent of servers” tips to the Starkville Red Cross to help pay for the funerals of those killed in Thursday”s fires at Academy Crossing apartments. The restaurant will be open from 7 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
