They will start the agonizing process of saying goodbye tonight in Norwood.
The first of the funeral services for the two victims of last week’s train suicides will be held.
The visitation for Vanessa Dorwart will be held 5-9 p.m. at the McCausland-Garrity Funeral Home on Chester Pike in Glenolden. Her funeral is tomorrow. The scene will be repeated Sunday and Monday for Gina Gentile.
No doubt there will be huge crowds – including hundreds of mourning kids – in attendance.
This newspaper has a policy that we try to adhere to when it comes to funerals. In general, we do not cover them. We allow the families to have this moment to themselves.
We will try to honor that this weekend. We are not planning to send a reporter to either viewing. We likely will simply take a photo of the long line to get into the funeral home tonight and run it with a caption.
I’m not sure what exactly we could add to what has already been an unbearably sad story.
We are planning a story for Sunday dealing with the issue of teen suicide, specifically the kind of teen pact that officials believe was at the root of this incident.
We have covered this story extensively since last week. Our coverage has been criticized by some as too much, that we sensationalized the situation, even glorifying what happened. That’s not an unusual claim when something like this occurs.
I do not happen to agree with that observation. We consider ourselves the paper of record for Delaware County, and clearly this was a huge story here in the county.
I believe we looked at every substantial angle of the story, including making sure we listed the agencies and hotlines available for those struggling with exactly these kinds of issues.
But we will not cover these funerals, unless something happens that changes the situation and merits further coverage.
It will not ease the sadness. It will not answer the questions. But it will, I hope, allow these two families a small measure of privacy in an unbearably sad situation.
The first of the funeral services for the two victims of last week’s train suicides will be held.
The visitation for Vanessa Dorwart will be held 5-9 p.m. at the McCausland-Garrity Funeral Home on Chester Pike in Glenolden. Her funeral is tomorrow. The scene will be repeated Sunday and Monday for Gina Gentile.
No doubt there will be huge crowds – including hundreds of mourning kids – in attendance.
This newspaper has a policy that we try to adhere to when it comes to funerals. In general, we do not cover them. We allow the families to have this moment to themselves.
We will try to honor that this weekend. We are not planning to send a reporter to either viewing. We likely will simply take a photo of the long line to get into the funeral home tonight and run it with a caption.
I’m not sure what exactly we could add to what has already been an unbearably sad story.
We are planning a story for Sunday dealing with the issue of teen suicide, specifically the kind of teen pact that officials believe was at the root of this incident.
We have covered this story extensively since last week. Our coverage has been criticized by some as too much, that we sensationalized the situation, even glorifying what happened. That’s not an unusual claim when something like this occurs.
I do not happen to agree with that observation. We consider ourselves the paper of record for Delaware County, and clearly this was a huge story here in the county.
I believe we looked at every substantial angle of the story, including making sure we listed the agencies and hotlines available for those struggling with exactly these kinds of issues.
But we will not cover these funerals, unless something happens that changes the situation and merits further coverage.
It will not ease the sadness. It will not answer the questions. But it will, I hope, allow these two families a small measure of privacy in an unbearably sad situation.
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