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Reverend recalls mother, daughters
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Holmes
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Kimble
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Marniece
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Mari’Auna
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Tragic deaths, such as the four people killed in a house fire March 3 on Austin Avenue Northwest, can leave us asking, “Why are we here?” The Rev. Darryl Rodgers told hundreds of mourners Monday.
“Simply stated, Jesus said we are here to love God and to love him in such a way that it spills over into our love of one another,” the Rev. Mr. Rodgers said at NorthMar Church on East Market Street.
Mari’Auna Holmes, 13, and her sister, Marniece Holmes, 9, were a great example of that love during the four years Mr. Rodgers knew them at the church he leads — Trinity Baptist on Highland Avenue Southwest — he said.
The girls, along with their mother, Yolanda Holmes, 38, and Yolanda’s fiance, Edtawn Kimble, 32, died in the 3:21 a.m. fire which investigators said started on or near the kitchen stove.
Mr. Rodgers spoke at the funeral for the family, four caskets in front of him — two pink for the girls, one white for their mother and one brown for Kimble.
Mr. Rodgers said he focused his eulogy on Mari’Auna and Marniece because he had observed the girls so many times at church, starting with their weekly visits to Wednesday evening Bible studies.
The girls, arriving in the church van with a cousin, “listened to the teachings of Jesus Christ, and they asked many questions,” he said.
“Mari’Auna and Marniece loved learning about the Lord, so they wanted to come some more. So not only did they come on Wednesdays, but they started coming to Sunday school,” he said.
Eventually they also attended Sunday morning worship services, frequently with their mother, Yolanda, bringing them. “And on a Wednesday evening, they confessed to Christ and were baptized,” he said, remembering the white dresses the girls wore and that Yolanda and Edtawn were with them.
“Mari’Auna and Marniece understood why they were here. They understood the goal in life was to love God and to love their neighbor,” he said, adding that they became part of vacation Bible school, Christmas and Easter programs and went on church outings.
“We watched their faith in God grow. They came to understand that they needed God,” Mr. Rodgers said.
Mari’Auna performed the song “He Knows My Name” during a talent show at the church, he recounted. “It struck a chord with her.” Among the words are that God “knows my name. He knows my every thought,” Mr. Rodgers said.
“I’m not worried about what is just rubbish,” he said of the burned up house where the family died. “Because the house they are enjoying now was not built by human hands.”
“If Mari’Auna and Marniece could come back, they would not,” he said. “They are home.”
Sheauntie Murry of Warren, a longtime friend of Yolanda Holmes, said she will miss her friend “so much, and I’m going to miss her girls. Nobody can take her place,” she said.
A separate funeral for Kimble was held last week.