Spellman sparkles on funeral coverage

When Derek Spellman puts his mind to it, he is one of the few area reporters who can put a poetic touch to his articles without having it look too pretentious. That made him the perfect person for Joplin Globe Editor Carol Stark to assign to handle the coverage of the funeral of three Micronesian church leaders murdered a week ago at the First Congregational Church of Neosho.
From the opening of his article- "He was a light that naturally drew people, in life as well as death"- to the conclusion, Spellman held the right tone:

There was the driven, determined workaholic with the creases and calluses in his hands to prove it. There was the outspoken — but also well-spoken — pastor. There was the avid baseball fan.

But at the center, beneath these layers, was "the teddy bear" who gathered his family close at every opportunity and attracted people from "10 to 200 miles away," Kevin Rehobson said.

And people did come, hundreds strong, on Saturday to funeral services to bid farewell to Kernel Rehobson, 43; his uncle Intenson Rehobson, 44; and Kuhpes Ikosia, 53. The three men were pastors of the Micronesian church in Neosho until they were gunned down there on Aug. 12.

"God’s plan, nobody can question," said Lou Rehobson-Manuel, Kernel Rehobson's sister, during Saturday's funeral service. "We can’t ask why. We can only pick up the pieces and move forward. That is what he would have wanted us to do."