CASE SHOOTING Recalling 'a prince'

Wallace touched the hearts of people around the world, the bishop said.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- What do you do when bad things happen to good folks? When there is no reasonable excuse for what happens in your life? When you focus your love and energy on bringing up a child who is struck down without reason by a crazed gunman on a university campus?
Those were among the questions Bishop Norman L. Wagner posed to a crowd of some 1,300 at services for his nephew and surrogate son, Norman Eugene Wallace, 30.
Wallace, a straight-A student, was killed a week ago in a random shooting at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he was studying for a master's degree in business administration.
Bishop Wagner, pastor of Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church, and his wife, Dr. Rita H. Wallace Wagner, helped rear Norman, who was named in the bishop's honor, after their attempts to conceive failed. Norman was the fourth of 11 children.
Trying to shed light
After thanking his brother- and sister-in-law, Fred and Evelyn Wallace, for allowing him and his wife to participate in bringing up their son, Bishop Wagner tried to shed light on his death.
Referring to his nephew as "a prince," Bishop Wagner said human beings are limited in their abilities to understand God's master plan. "If you are going to try to fathom out what happened to Norman, nothing on this Earth will give you a logical answer," he said.
"God made Norman an eternal being. What we are experiencing is a temporary tragedy. Everything is upside-down, but it is not out of control. God is always in control."
The bishop noted that in addition to those he touched in life, Wallace had succeeded in touching the hearts of people around the world who were shocked by his senseless murder.
Cleveland mayor's words
Cleveland Mayor Jane L. Campbell said Wallace had a profound influence on her 15-year-old daughter, even though the two had never met.
After watching television news reports, the mayor said she and her daughter tried to imagine something worse for a parent than losing a child. Neither could.
She said after pondering the matter for a while her daughter suggested that the reason God would allow such suffering was to teach compassion.
Mayor George M. McKelvey; Bishop J. Delano Ellis II, prelate of The United Pentecostal Churches of Christ; Bishop James E. Tyson, assistant prelate of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World; Revs. Alfred D. Coward and Condridge R. Smith, under shepherds of Calvary Ministries International; members of the Wallace family; and representatives of CWRU were among those to address the crowd during the 31/2-hour service.
A memorial service was to be this morning in AMASA Stone Chapel at CWRU.
kubik@vindy.com