Harding University mourns student killed in crash

SEARCY, Ark. – Students returning from fall break at Harding University began the school week in mourning after one of their classmates was killed in a crash over the weekend.

On Sunday, Oct. 6, Avery Martin, a senior Bible and family ministry major from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and three other students were returning to school. In Colorado, early in the morning while many of them were tired, the car flipped, killing Martin.

The other three students injured include Bradley Cole, an integrated marketing communication major from Richardson, Texas, Lloyd Stenglein, an international business major from Apache Junction, Arizona and Ben Sheppard, an interdisciplinary studies major from Boise, Idaho.

Harding University is a Christian school and begins every day with a chapel assembly where students, faculty and staff worship together and hear the same lessons and announcements. Monday’s chapel was dedicated to prayer and healing from the deadly crash.

Before they sang hymns, Harding University President Mike Williams addressed the student body.

“When tragedies of this magnitude come, there is really only one path: the path that leads to God,” Williams said.

The united songs of mourning were also of praise. Martin’s friends, including sophomore Mason Smith, say their “brother” has graduated to his reward.

“He was really able to connect with God which also helped him connect with others, and he was really there for people, so that gives us a much greater hope to know he’s in a much better place,” Smith said.

Smith and Martin connected through Campus Ministries Connections and their social club, TNT.

“Chapel was rough yesterday for me and a lot of people, but I’ve also gotten to see the good of the community that Avery’s blessed us with,” Smith said.

Avery was engaged and had a wedding planned for next summer. He would have been a youth minister. Helping students come to terms with how fragile the future can be is what Harding University’s leadership is focused on giving.

Vice President Jean-Noel Thompson said following Avery’s death, in-person counseling on campus is fully booked, but online counseling resources are open and available 24/7.

“We try to put that message out there with no stigma,” Thompson said. “This is the time to get help. We are here to meet them where they are and walk them through this. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. That’s what the community is about.”

All 50 states and more than 60 countries are represented within the student body this year.

A candlelight service for Martin will be held Thursday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. at the Benson Auditorium steps.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.