The Howard Hertzler family moved to Powhatan in the summer of 1974. Fifteen years later Howard would be the first adult laid to restin the church cemetery. His death is an amazing story of God’s grace and forgiveness overcoming deep tragedy and loss.
April 7, 1989, started out like any other cold spring day. Howard took off from work early as he needed to renew his car tags, and he decided to go to the DMV on the Southside of Richmond. As the hours ticked by and Howard did not return home, Lillian became worried; then she saw on the evening news that a Powhatan man had been killed in a car accident in the area that Howard had traveled. She did not recognize the car being flashed on the evening news, but nagged by fear, she called her girls; Joyce, Linda and Sharon. They called the state and city police, begging for information, only to be given vague answers. Son-in-law Miles drove past the accident scene but didn’t recognize the car. Finally they called Channel 12, which had aired the news, and asked the station to replay the tape and give them the license plate number. The number was Howard’s. It was now five hours since the accident. Miles rushed home to find the State Police bearing the awful news.
A carload of teenagers had gone on a joy ride in a stolen car and lost control during a sudden spring snow storm. The car careened across a concrete barrier and landed on top of Howard’s car crushing the car and killing him instantly.
The news rocked the family, community and church. In a split instant life changed for the Hertzler family, and they now had to deal with the senseless, untimely death of a husband, father, granddad, and friend. Lillian says, “The first year I was in denial and kept thinking he would come home. But the stark reality finally began to sink in. I prayed and prayed that God would not let me become bitter.” A friend who had also walked a difficult road shared a verse with her that became her lifeline: “My grace is sufficient for you.” (II Corinthians 12:9) “Many times when I was hardly able to think for myself, I prayed that God would show me His way. Often I would open my Bible, and there would be a precious verse from God, just exactly what I needed, speaking His quiet message of hope to me.”
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One evening several years later, Lillian was leading a Bible study at the women’s prison in Goochland when one of the ladies asked a question. “If God is such a loving God, why does he let bad things happen, such as abused children?” A painful memory flashed through Lillian’s mind as she explained, “It isn’t that God causes it to happen, but He does allow it to happen. It is because of sin and a person’s choice and the consequences of that choice.” Then she went on to tell the story of Howard’s fatal car accident. She told how he was a victim of sixteen-year-old teenagers with a stolen car that went out of control on a snowy road and landed on his car, crushing him instantly to death. She drew the parallel of the teenagers’ choosing to do bad and the horrible consequences of that choice for her family. She shared God’s mercy and grace in her life and how she had to choose to forgive and pray that bitterness would not creep in and destroy her life.
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A startled young woman began asking questions. “When did it happen? Was it in Richmond? Was it on Hull Street? Was it April 7, 1989? Lillian’s heart pounded as she weakly answered, “Yes.” That young woman was a sister to one of the teenagers in the stolen car; her sister had also been killed!
Daughter Linda, with her young son Phillip, was also living at home at the time as she was still reeling from her divorce. Linda says, “It was overwhelming. Dad was a much needed father figure for Phillip, and now he was gone. We would read in the newspapers about the poor, pitiful kids who were driving the other car, and it would make me angry. I remember at the time I was working at Chippenham Hospital in the radiology department, and for three months, once a week, one of the girls who broke her neck in the accident would come in for x-rays, and I had to see her. Mom kept saying, “You can’t let bitterness control you. You have to forgive.” Linda’s faith was put to the fire. She says, “I now had to learn to depend personally on God. It was only His grace and the arms of support I experienced in my family and church that pulled me through. I so appreciated my Mom’s wisdom and guidance in learning to depend on God. I never could have made it without her.”
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There was still one more amazing twist to the story. It was a number of years later when Linda found out that just minutes before the accident, her dad had paid a visit to her ex-husband at his work and told him that he had forgiven him for what he had done to her.
Forgiveness. God’s grace is indeed sufficient.
Written by Pat Hertzler