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Memorial service for three St. Olaf College students will be held Wednesday, April 4

mjc
March 28, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? A memorial service to mourn the loss of three St. Olaf College students who were killed last week in a car accident is scheduled for Wednesday, April 4, at the college.

The service, remembering St. Olaf sophomores Anna Kristina Bonde of Livonia, Mich., Christopher A. Hoppe of Milford, Mass., and Sarah "Sally" Heitman of O?Fallon, Ill., will be at 7:30 p.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel. St. Olaf Pastor Bruce Benson and Associate Pastor Jennifer Anderson Koenig will conduct the service.

"St. Olaf is a place that Anna, Chris and Sally deeply loved," said St. Olaf Dean of Students Greg Kneser. "Since their deaths students have gathered in small groups to mourn and remember them. The April 4 service is intended to provide another source of healing from gathered voices and hearts."

"We have never had a tragedy of this magnitude," Kneser added. "Anna, Sally and Chris were wonderful contributors to the St. Olaf community and to our society, and we will miss them greatly. They were on their way to volunteer in a New Orleans elementary school as a part of their spring break."

Anna, Sally and Chris died in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver on Saturday, March 17, near Springfield, Ill. Classmates Nick Brown and Ethan Steinkraus were injured in the accident. The driver of the other car, who broke his ankles in the crash, has been charged with three counts of reckless homicide, two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of driving the wrong way on a highway.

Those who want more information about the service are invited to contact the St. Olaf Dean of Students Office at (507) 646-3503 or (507) 646-3615.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.