The wife of another victim of the horrific mass shooting that occurred in Illinois over the weekend has expressed their deep-rooted faith in Christ in the face of such brutal tragedy and grief.
Faithwire previously reported on 37-year-old victim Josh Pinkard’s wife Terra, who said despite this horrific tragedy she will continue to praise the Lord ‘for giving me this man’ in a beautiful show of gratitude amidst pain.
Clayton Parks, a human resources manager at the Henry Platt Company plant, was also gunned down in the horrific workplace attack. Clayton’s wife, Abby, described her late husband as an “incredible father” and her “best friend.”
“Every time I’ve closed my eyes over the last twelve hours, I’ve opened them hoping to wake from a terrible dream, but that’s not the case. I’m living my worst nightmare,” Abby Parks wrote on Facebook Saturday. “I am devastated.”
But despite the all-consuming heartache and excruciating loss of, Abby said it was her faith in God that offers some measure of comfort to her and her 10-month-old son, Axel.
“Beneath all the fog and the shock, and the crushing pain, I believe the same God that brought us together and gave us our precious son will somehow carry us through,” Abby wrote.
“I’ll love you always and miss you forever, Clay.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Abby and Axel as they look ahead to a future without Clayton. The fundraiser, some of which will go towards paying for Axel’s future college education, is currently at just over $16,000.
In a similar fashion to Abby, the wife of shooting victim Josh Pinkard spoke out on social media with a moving tribute to her husband. Again, she said that it was only her faith in Jesus that was keeping her young family together at such a devastating time.
Gary Martin, who had been with the company for 15 years, was in a meeting regarding his termination when he pulled out his firearm and began shooting. Among the dead was a young man named Trevor Wehner – a Northern Illinois University and a human resources intern who was on his first day working with the company when he was gunned down.
“He wanted to do some good to the people around him, help them out,” brother Thomas Wehner told NBC News following his brother’s death.
“I looked up to him just because he did have so many friends and he was so loved, and I just always wanted to be like him.”
Do keep all those affected by this tragedy in your prayers.