Pandemic fear: Church to apologize for funeral refusal

Noel Alexander had helped build Pine Hill Baptist Church in west-central Louisiana. He’d been its music minister, served on numerous committees and he and his wife kept the church’s books. After he died from COVID-19 at age 79, his visitation and funeral were scheduled for the church he loved.

But his family said that when they arrived, they were told they couldn’t hold either the visitation or the funeral in the spacious building currently used for services because of the pandemic. And, they learned, the funeral director had been told he’d be met with a gun if he tried to bring the body inside.

“It was scary devastating,” Donna Hunt, one of Alexander’s six children, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

The church’s pastor, Tri Evans, had approved of the services for Alexander but was not there when they were supposed to take place. Instead, two church officials were on site and were the ones that told the family the funeral couldn’t take place indoors.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Evans said the church voted last Sunday to apologize to the family and create a memorial fund in Alexander’s honor to provide funeral flowers and food – something Alexander often helped with.

Evans did not want to go into specifics about what happened but suggested the church officials who made the decision to bar the funeral services were scared.

“There was a lot of fear. Unfortunately, on many levels, that’s the world we live in now. (People) try to navigate it and sometimes make big mistakes,” he said.

Alexander’s family members said they don’t blame the church as a whole. “It had nothing to do with the church members whatsoever – just those two guys,” Hunt said.

Eventually, a local funeral home agreed to host the visitation but the family decided to hold only a graveside funeral service on Aug. 12.

“That cemetery was full. There were 300 or 400 people there,” Terrell said.

Told that the church planned to apologize, Sharyn Terrell, Noel Alexander’s wife said, “If that makes them feel better. The harm was done.”

Alexander was among 843 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Vernon Parish and 32 who have died, the state reported Aug. 19.