Mourners pack funeral for 4 siblings who drowned during church picnic

ST. LOUIS -- Nearly a thousand mourners packed an inner-city church Friday to remember four siblings, who, along with a fifth child, drowned during a church picnic on the Meramec River in eastern Missouri as they tried to save a friend.

Some schoolmates wailed their grief as they passed four coffins holding Damon Johnson, 17; Ryan Mason, 14; Dana Johnson, 13; and Bryant Barnes Jr., 10.

Resting against the coffins' blue or pink satin linings were the children's trophies, varsity letters, school assignments, and graduation pictures -- tributes to "special kids" said to have found purpose in their brief life.

"I hope some day I can dance like Damon, have strong leadership like Ryan, be as forgiving as Dana and as determined as Bryant," the Rev. Jeff Allensworth said in a eulogy. "The lives of these children are not wasted."

A service for the fifth child, 16-year-old Deandre Sherman, is scheduled for next week. All five victims, and a sixth child, 16-year-old Joseph Miller, who survived and attended Friday's service, are of St. Louis.

Mourners, dabbing their eyes with tissue, rocking tiny babies, and swaying their arms in prayer, filled the St. Louis Dream Center, the nondenominational church that sponsored the picnic Sunday at Castlewood State Park in St. Louis County. An overflow crowd had to wait outside the church.

The four siblings, who had never taken swimming lessons, drowned along with Sherman while trying to help Miller, who was caught in an undertow.

The church has had little to say about the events of that day or a recovery effort authorities say was hampered by confusion over the church's accounting of who had attended the picnic and been caught by the Meramec's treacherous current.

The siblings' mother, Edris Moore, has said the details of that day are not her concern, that she's content to know they're with God. At Friday's funeral service, speaking very softly at first from a stage in the sanctuary, she reiterated that message.

Her voice and spirit emboldened, she prayed louder, still louder, finally shouting as she jumped up and down in a sort of dance, "I praise you, father God, and give you the glory. Alleluia. Thank you, Jesus."

But some mourners at the two-hour, music- and prayer-filled service weren't so ready to follow Moore's lead.

"There wouldn't be no way I could let it go," said Alice Stith, 85. "There was a lack of supervision. They were supposed to count heads."

Elder James Brooks, 69, from Bethesda Temple Church in Normandy added: "To me, it was out of order, unsupervised. There was no leadership. Somebody should have been in charge."

Twelve-year-old Lonti Carter, leaning against a wall at the church's outer aisle, was there to mourn his friend Bryant and to thank God that chores kept him home that day. "I was taking care of my puppy, Lady," he said. He also expressed gratitude that he had learned to swim.

A brother of the siblings, Donnell Johnson, sang a song he had composed in their honor two nights ago and accompanied himself on piano. Another brother, Devin, led the congregation in prayer.

The Rev. Rick Washington said 36-year-old Moore had done an admirable job raising eight children. He said Bryant was competitive, but "teachable;" Dana had a winning smile and a forgiving spirit; and Damon had a temper but was "quick to repent."

Tony Gilmore, a youth minister at the church, said Ryan was a star athlete with a "ridiculous" sense of humor who "kept a list of kids he was praying for to be saved."

Near the end of the service, Moore walked up to each casket, lingered a minute and touched each child goodbye.

The Dream Center, run by internationally known television evangelist Joyce Meyer and her husband, Dave Meyer, planted itself in an urban neighborhood on the square-city-block site of a former Roman Catholic church and school complex that closed a dozen years ago.

The Dream Center bills itself as a "healing place for a hurting world," and does Christian outreach to youth, nursing home residents, the homeless and prostitutes.

Dave Meyer said God was using Moore and her children as an expression of faith, which is "tested when water is troubled, not when the water is calm."

Church member Shelley Baker, 33, said the deaths of the four children have made the Dream Center community more aware of the need to tell others about God.

"You're not promised tomorrow," she said. "These events show us we have a job to do."