Bluffton University One Year Later
The EMU community offers prayers and support to sister college Bluffton University as they mark the one-year anniversary of the bus accident that claimed the lives of five members of their baseball team last March.
On March 4, 2007, President Loren Swartzendruber delivered the Sunday morning worship message at Bay Shore Mennonite Church in Sarasota, Fla. The Bluffton baseball team was to have joined the congregation and EMU team. Read Loren's words... (Photo courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
EMU President Loren Swartzendruber and several other EMU staff and administrators were on hand in Sarasota, Fla., to take part in remembrance activities and support the EMU and Bluffton baseball teams as they opened their season.
One Game, One Year
On Sunday, March 2, the EMU and Bluffton baseball teams competed in Sarasota (EMU-4, Bluffton-3), marking the one-year anniversary of the game the team would have played against EMU.
After the game, Bluffton hosted a picnic for players, family and fans of both teams. Read more about Saturday's special game...
Memorial Events
On Wednesday, March 12, at 4:30 p.m. the families of the Bluffton baseball team will join Bluffton staff in dedicating the permanent campus memorial, a "Circle of Remembrance," near the university baseball complex. Its centerpiece bronze sculpture by Gregg Luginbuhl (chairperson of Bluffton's art department) is entitled "Touching Home."
At 7 p.m. that evening there will be a public "Service of Remembrance" in Founders Hall where those gathered may reflect on the events of last year and remember the loss of life. March 12 is the one-year anniversary date of last year's memorial service.
The renamed and enhanced Bluffton University Memorial Field will be dedicated on March 18 in a pre-game ceremony before the Bluffton baseball team's first home game.
Contributed funds made significant facility enhancements possible, such as the "Circle of Remembrance" construction, new sunken dugouts, a low brick backstop wall patterned after Wrigley Field, new backstop netting, a laser-leveled and re-sodded infield, authentic Alabama red clay on the dirt surfaces, two permanent batting cages, new fencing, and landscaping.
