Outpouring for Vancleave family killed in crash

Thousands attend visitation for VanAlstines

Posted by Memories Always staff
PASCAGOULA – The line of students, district teachers and officials at the Vancleave Attendance Center stretched unceasingly it seemed outside the funeral home Aug. 3 where respects were paid to the Van Alstine family members killed July 29 in a vehicular wreck.

That line inside O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home on Telephone Road also curved around the chapel room and down the hall into the parlor for the closed-casket memorial.

On Aug. 6, General Manager William Wilmoth said approximately 2,200 people attended the service for 14-year English teacher Shyla VanAlstine, her husband Phillip, and their 7-year-old daughter Haylie.

Hal Holmes, superintendent at Vancleave Attendance Center, said the loss was hard.

Vancleave Family Killed in Car Crash Laid to Rest
http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=8787040

The faces of family, friends, colleagues and residents of Vancleave and from across Jackson County were somber. Numerous ones wept openly, comforted by others also grieving the loss of the three Vancleave residents. Everyone waited patiently in the evening sun.

Inside they signed an extended banner that offered get-well wishes to 4-year-old Kaytie, who still is in critical condition at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge, La. Wilmoth said the banner stretched over 60 feet.

Wilmoth said about 800 people attended funeral services Aug. 4 at St. Paul United Methodist Church East Campus in Ocean Springs, located at U.S. 90 and Mississippi 57.
American Legion members and active members of the Army National Guard also attended in honor of Phillip VanAlstine's 17-year service in the military, including a year in Iraq.

Holmes must now replace a 14-year instructor who was head of the English Department at Vancleave Attendance Center. She also had been girls volley ball coach about 10 years.