Kansas vaulter dies in car crash

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http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/313858.html

3 in family die in car crash in Colo.
Eagle staff and news services

Sign a guest book for the Schoenwald family
Three members of a Wichita family were killed and three other family members were injured just before dawn Saturday in a three-vehicle accident on I-70 in Colorado.

Kenneth Schoenwald, 46, of Wichita, died at the scene along with his 13-year-old son, Jace, and his 18-year-old daughter, Jenna, troopers said.

Janelle Schoenwald, 46, and the couple's 15-year-old twin daughters, Avery and Alyssa, were flown to hospitals and were in serious condition, the State Patrol said.

The superintendent of the Berean Academy in Elbing, where the Schoenwald children attend school, said the family left Wichita on a ski trip Friday night.

"This has hit our school hard, needless to stay," superintendent Terry Tilson said. "This leaves a big hole in our school family."

Kenneth Schoenwald was driving west on I-70, about 50 miles east of Denver, when the family's van collided with the back of a pickup being towed by another pickup, the Colorado State Patrol said.

The van spun into eastbound lanes and was then struck by an semi. No one in the van was wearing a seat belt, troopers said.

The driver of the pickup and the driver of the semi were not injured, but a passenger in the semi was treated for unknown injuries at a hospital and released.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Jenna was a senior and Jace an eighth-grader at Berean.

"They will be missed," said Mark Anderson, a Berean teacher who has had all of the Schoenwald children in class. The twins are in ninth grade.

When asked to describe the family, Anderson used the words creative and intelligent.

"Just a close-knit family," he said.

Jenna was on pace to finish at or near the top of her class academically, Anderson said. She finished in fifth place in the pole vault in Class 2A at last year's state track and field meet.

Jace, who played trumpet, was named to the South Central Kansas Music Educators Association middle school honors band in October.

Anderson said the losses will be tough on the Berean Academy community, where enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grade is about 300.

It is the second time in less than a year the school has lost a student in a car crash. Berean senior Bradford Whittemore was killed in May.

"We'll try to find our answers in God... even though we don't have the answers right now," he said.

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http://www.kansas.com/news/story/315564.html

Grieving family's faith is strong
BY DEB GRUVER
The Wichita Eagle

Sign a guest book for the Schoenwald family
A common theme runs throughout a guest book for the Schoenwald family of Wichita, which lost three members in a Colorado crash over the weekend: faith.

"They are very involved in their church," said Linda Whitt, a co-worker of Janelle Schoenwald, who lost her husband and two of her children in the accident. "They have a very strong faith that I'm sure that will carry them through this."

The family was on a ski trip when the crash occurred just before dawn Saturday. Reports say their van collided with a pickup truck being towed by another vehicle and then was struck by a semi about 50 miles east of Denver on I-70.

Kenneth Schoenwald, 46, died, along with 18-year-old daughter Jennalea -- known as Jenna -- and 13-year-old son Jace.

Janelle Schoenwald, 46, and twin 15-year-old daughters Avery and Alyssa remained Monday at Swedish Medical Center near Denver.

Mr. Schoenwald was a structural engineer who owned his company, Schoenwald Structural Engineering. Janelle is a registered nurse in the medical/surgical unit at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Joseph Campus, Whitt said.

They married in 1985.

Leaning on faith

The Schoenwalds have attended MorningStar Community Church, formerly First Bible Baptist, for many years. The church's pastor is in Colorado with the family.

Family friend Craig Walters said he met the Schoenwalds in 1985 through church. His wife, Lori, is with the family in Colorado.

"My wife says the girls' spirits are just incredible," he said. "They're holding up really well, considering. They know what they've lost. It's very tragic for them, but they're leaning on their faith. Strength runs in that family."

The Walters family usually goes skiing with the Schoenwalds but couldn't make the trip this past weekend because of scheduling conflicts, Walters said.

He described Mr. Schoenwald as a "salt of the earth kind of guy who you could count on for anything you ever needed. He definitely was there as a friend for me for years and to our family."

Terry Tilson, superintendent of Berean Academy, where all of the Schoenwald children attended and where Janelle is an alumna, plans to go to Colorado today, he said.

The school will have an assembly this morning and make counselors available to students mourning the loss of two classmates, Tilson said.

Avery and Alyssa are freshmen at the Christian school in Elbing, he said.

The church also plans to ask members for "love offerings" to help the family with financial needs.

"They're going to have a number of expenses," Tilson said.

Friends remember

Mr. Schoenwald, who grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was a gentle person who was extremely professional as an engineer, colleagues said.

"Ken was a hard worker, one of the most honest people I've ever had the pleasure to know, one of the most even-natured individuals," said Harold Mowery, project architect at R. Messner Construction Inc., where Mr. Schoenwald had worked for several years.

The family had been building a new home that Mr. Schoenwald had designed, Mowery said.

Mike King, vice president for business development at Hutton Construction in Wichita, had known Mr. Schoenwald since college. Both went to John Brown University in Arkansas, and they played soccer together.

Mr. Schoenwald did some work for Hutton Construction, King said.

"He was a very good engineer who had a real gift to make things buildable," King said.

King also planned to go to Colorado today to see the family.

Mr. Schoenwald still enjoyed playing soccer, King said, participating this past fall in an alumni game celebrating 30 years of soccer at John Brown, he said. Jace Schoenwald also played soccer.

Jenna was on pace to finish at or near the top of her class academically, Berean teacher Mark Anderson told The Eagle on Saturday. She placed fifth in the pole vault in Class 2A at last year's state track and field meet.

Jace, who played the trumpet, was named to the South Central Kansas Music Educators Association middle school honors band in October.

The family went on several church missions together, friends said. Comments from people they met in Brazil, for example, are featured in their condolence book at www.kansas.com.

Funeral arrangements were still pending Monday.

The tragedy has touched all of St. Joseph--from transport staff to lab technicians to radiology personnel, Whitt said.

"Doctors are coming in and saying 'We've heard about Janelle and what can we do?' " she said.

"She's just very caring and good with her patients," she said. "She's just a wonderful nurse. I'd love for her to take care of me if I had to be in the hospital."