Eleven fire victims ‘did mean something’
(Globe/Roger Nomer Cecil Hall, pastor of Anderson Full Gospel Church, wrote a poem that was read at the recent funeral for John Wallerstedt, one of 10 people who died Nov. 27 in a fire at the Anderson Guest House. )
By Andy Ostmeyer
aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com
ANDERSON, Mo. — John-John couldn’t speak.
“The only word I heard him say was mama,” said Cecil Hall, pastor of Anderson Full Gospel Church.
The 43-year-old John-John, who had Down syndrome, resorted to grunting when he wanted Hall’s blessing. He joined others at Hall’s church for the past few years.
At church, he would take his cues from the pastor, mimicking him as he raised his hands in praise or tapped his foot to the music.
“If it was a song that was upbeat, he’d just look at my foot, and he’d make the tap, try it himself, keep it in beat,” Hall said. “He would get it, boy, then he would just smile.”
Hall said there was a lesson in the simplicity of John-John’s faith in a world of man-made complexities.
Hall wrote a poem titled “Abba” that was read at John-John’s funeral:
John-John had
No discernible language.
Word and verse,
From him they failed.
But ’tis clear to me,
When he came to worship,
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