2008 Woodie Awards
At visitations, loved ones of Omaha mall shooting victims begin paying their respects
Associated Press
Issue date: 12/10/07 Section: Nation
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Janet Jorgensen had recently helped her husband of 50 years through a battle with prostate cancer. Dianne Trent liked to tend the flowers on her porch and chat with her neighbor over tea. And nearly 40 years after they went to high school with him, friends remember Gary Joy as a quiet and shy gentleman.
Relatives and friends began paying their final respects Sunday for the three Von Maur department store employees, who died after a gunman opened fire in Omaha's Westroads Mall. Visitations were held for the three, as well as for John McDonald, a shopper also among the eight killed by suicidal teenager Robert Hawkins.
Loved ones, who remembered Jorgensen as a pillar of the family, gathered at a funeral home about four miles from the store. The 67-year-old Omaha woman, a 14-year store employee, was remembered as dedicated to her grandchildren and neighborhood.
"Her personality was wonderful. (She) was very loving and kind, and was very family oriented," Jorgensen's niece Karen Schaefer said Sunday.
Jorgensen enjoyed baking birthday cakes for every family member and fishing with her grandchildren, her family said. She was planning a wedding for one of her granddaughters and had recently helped ease her husband through his bout with cancer.
"The last few years I haven't been able to spend as much time, as I've had my family, but the time that we did have together was, you know, fun," said Schaefer, 48.
Jorgensen's survivors include her husband and 94-year-old mother, three children, and nine grandchildren, ages 7 to 28.
Cars overflowed from the parking lot of the funeral home, which was holding simultaneous visitations for Jorgensen and the 53-year-old Trent, also shot while working at the store.
Trent, 53, a store employee who tended flowers on her porch and chatted with her neighbor over tea, divorced many years ago and had no children, neighbor Errol Schlenker said. She lived in a northwest Omaha town house with two cats and a small dog.
Relatives and friends began paying their final respects Sunday for the three Von Maur department store employees, who died after a gunman opened fire in Omaha's Westroads Mall. Visitations were held for the three, as well as for John McDonald, a shopper also among the eight killed by suicidal teenager Robert Hawkins.
Loved ones, who remembered Jorgensen as a pillar of the family, gathered at a funeral home about four miles from the store. The 67-year-old Omaha woman, a 14-year store employee, was remembered as dedicated to her grandchildren and neighborhood.
"Her personality was wonderful. (She) was very loving and kind, and was very family oriented," Jorgensen's niece Karen Schaefer said Sunday.
Jorgensen enjoyed baking birthday cakes for every family member and fishing with her grandchildren, her family said. She was planning a wedding for one of her granddaughters and had recently helped ease her husband through his bout with cancer.
"The last few years I haven't been able to spend as much time, as I've had my family, but the time that we did have together was, you know, fun," said Schaefer, 48.
Jorgensen's survivors include her husband and 94-year-old mother, three children, and nine grandchildren, ages 7 to 28.
Cars overflowed from the parking lot of the funeral home, which was holding simultaneous visitations for Jorgensen and the 53-year-old Trent, also shot while working at the store.
Trent, 53, a store employee who tended flowers on her porch and chatted with her neighbor over tea, divorced many years ago and had no children, neighbor Errol Schlenker said. She lived in a northwest Omaha town house with two cats and a small dog.
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