KENTWOOD, Mich. (AP) - One Michigan church rejoiced as the minister described the reunion between a young woman believed to be dead and her parents. Another mourned her college classmate, who was misidentified in a tragic mix-up.
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People sing during a memorial for Laura VanRyn in Kentwood, Mich., Sunday, June 4, 2006. VanRyn and Whitney Cerak were among 10 people from Taylor University who were riding in a school van that collided with a tractor-trailer April 26, killing four stude
Then friends and relatives gathered Sunday to remember Laura VanRyn, who was thought to have survived a van crash in April that killed five people. But the young woman recovering in a hospital was a fellow Taylor University student who closely resembled her.
For five weeks, Aryn Linenger sat by her bed, talked to her, held her hand.
During those many hours together, he said, he never doubted that he was comforting VanRyn, his girlfriend of three years.
"I saw her hands, her feet, her complexion, and I can't believe that it wasn't her," Linenger said during a memorial service for her at Kentwood Community Church. "Even to this day, it's amazing to me that with all that time we spent together, that I just didn't know."
VanRyn's family planned to exhume the 22-year-old's body, which was buried April 30 under a tombstone with the name of her college classmate, Whitney Cerak.
"She brought more joy to us than we could ever imagine," her older brother, Kenny VanRyn, told the 1,900 people at the memorial service.
Lisa VanRyn had maintained a Web log about the hospitalized woman who she believed was her sister before Cerak's family took over the journal last week.
"I hope that in whatever time I have left here, I have come close to loving people the way that she did," Lisa VanRyn said.
About 250 worshippers in VanRyn's congregation prayed for her family during a church service earlier Sunday.
"This week, we were introduced to a concept that can only be called retroactive grieving," said the Rev. Andy Smith of Forest Hills Bible Chapel in Caledonia.
Members of Cerak's family, however, "have experienced a resurrection of sorts, and we can rejoice with them," Smith said.
About 180 miles to the north in Cerak's hometown of Gaylord, about 1,000 worshippers at Gaylord Evangelical Free Church offered prayers and listened Sunday as the Rev. Jim Mathis described the reunion between Cerak and her mother and father, a youth pastor, after the mistake was discovered.
"It was just joy and tears and hugs," Mathis said. "I saw a small glimpse of heaven — the child being reunited in the arms of the heavenly father."
Cerak, 19, who bore a strong resemblance to VanRyn, was in a coma until recently and suffered a swollen face and broken bones, cuts and bruises and brain injuries in the crash.
VanRyn's parents did not begin to question whether she was actually their daughter until, as she regained consciousness, she started saying things that did not make sense to them, including referring to VanRyn's father by a pet name he did not recognize.
She replied "Whitney" several times after VanRyn's parents addressed her as "Laura," Anne Veltema, a spokeswoman with Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich., said last week. Dental records conclusively confirmed the mix-up Wednesday.
Linenger offered an apology to the woman he believed was his girlfriend in case his attention after the accident left her feeling confused.
"I want you to know that I still pray for that girl," he said during his eulogy. "From day one, I said that she was a miracle child."
Associated Press writer John Flesher in Gaylord contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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