PHOENIX | An Arizona man who was among the Colorado movie theater shooting victims was cremated this week, as his father remembered him as having a gift for defusing tense situations and a “heart of gold.”
Alex Teves and 11 others were shot and killed Friday in Aurora, Colo., at a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Services were held Thursday in Denver for another victim, Micayla Medek, 23.
Teves, who grew up in Phoenix and graduated from an Arizona high school and college, died while shielding his girlfriend from the gunfire. His father, Tom Teves, said his wife did not get a chance to say goodbye before their son was cremated because he didn’t want her to see the badly wounded body.
“He was one of the kindest kids who always gave of himself,” Tom Teves told the Arizona Republic. “You won’t find anyone who has a bad word to say about him, and that was true even before he died.”
James Holmes is accused of opening fire on a theater, killing the dozen people and injuring 58. He is due to be formally charged at a court hearing scheduled Monday in Colorado.
Tom Teves said he was on vacation in Hawaii with his wife and two other sons when they got the news from Alex’s girlfriend, who was hysterical. Alex Teves recently earned his master’s degree in psychology and was planning to become a physical therapist, his father said.
The younger Teves served as a mentor at the University of Arizona in Tucson and at the University of Denver. One of the people he mentored contacted the family this week saying that Alex Teves had set him on the right path, changing his life.
“Alex had the heart of a lion,” his father said. “He had a heart of gold, too. He marched to the beat of his own drummer. He never was concerned about being cool.”
Tom Teves added: “At 18, he was a better man than I am at 52. Even in death, he is teaching me.”
At Medek’s funeral, mourners wore pink ribbons, some with Hello Kitty faces on them, in honor of her fondness for the color and the character.
Her young second cousin, Kailyn Vigil, sobbed and some family members had to be supported as Medek’s coffin was placed in the hearse.
Medek attended Aurora Community College and worked at a Subway sandwich shop. Family members described her as loving and independent-minded.
Visitation was held Thursday for theater victim Alex Sullivan, who was known as a gentle man with a glowing smile. His funeral will be private, and no details have been released.
Former Air Force linguist Rebecca Wingo, who was killed in the shooting, is being remembered at a private memorial service Friday.
Her mother, Shirley Wygal, also is having a public celebration of Wingo’s life at the pub Wingo regularly visited. The public gathering is scheduled Friday night at Baker Street Pub and Grill in Denver.
Meanwhile, the body of a former Reno, Nev., resident who died in the shooting was being flown home to be buried.
The family of 26-year-old Navy veteran Jonathan Blunk said his body is to arrive Friday at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, KOLO-TV reported (https://goo.gl/UdxVr ). Blunk graduated from Reno’s Hug High School in 2004.
His funeral is scheduled for Aug. 3 at the Mountain View Mortuary.
The Reno Aces baseball team has announced a fund-raiser to benefit Blunk’s family. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ AAA affiliate will donate $5 of every ticket sold on Friday for the remainder of the current home stand to the Jonathan Blunk Memorial Fund.
The donations apply to tickets purchased on Friday for that night’s game against Pacific Coast League foe Colorado Springs, as well as games Saturday through Tuesday against Sacramento.
Vision and Witness… of the “Violet Flame Heart” Aurora, Colorado
July 22, 2012
It was time for bed, and I sat on the edge of my bed and began to say my nightly prayers. As I was saying my prayers I began to experience the whole room being frozen in time, all had stopped including myself, and then a soft voice said, “You are the witness”. The room in front of me began to part… I could see the Movie Theater in Colorado, and was able to see inside the theater and all twelve souls that had lost their lives, they were all still there.
Then my attention was drawn to the outside of the movie theater and looking very high above the theater, the top part of a very large outline of a Red Vibrant Heart began to appear flowing downward until the bottom tip of the heart extended deep into the ground covering the entire theater. As I watched… In the center of the Heart, a large burst of violet light appeared and the Violet Consuming Flame began to fill the entire Heart, Theater and Grounds.
I turned my head to the right, and could see in the far distance a large beautiful Rainbow Arrow of Light moving very fast toward the Heart. I then turned my head to the left, and saw the killer, James Eagan Holmes. I turned my head back to the right and saw the Rainbow Arrow of Light shoot straight through the Violet Flame Heart, into the killer’s heart. I then looked back to the movie theater and I could see all twelve Souls again, they were at Peace and Happy. The Souls then held each others hand and all began to move upward into the “Light” until they were gone.
I then saw the “Violet Flame Heart” surrounding the movie theater, expand larger and larger until the “Violet Flame Heart” covered all of Colorado.
Then a soft voice said “Let not, hurt nor grief fill your heart, for your love ones are with us now… let love and forgiveness be in your heart now and forever”.
As the vision ended a tear rolled down my cheek… O’ God, thank you for such a beautiful vision.
Barbara Crystal