In Memoriam: Heidi Gerrish
5/27/2022 update: more info from Heidi’s father, Paul, and links a GoFundMe page and to CaringBridge health updates for Justin and Katherine.
We lift up in prayer the friends and family of Heidi Gerrish. Heidi died at the scene of an automobile accident Saturday morning, May 21, 2022, while traveling to her sister Julie’s graduation from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.
Also in the car were her partner Justin and her brother and sister-in-law, Stephen and Katherine, who were all injured in the head-on collision with a driver going the wrong way on the freeway. Those three have varying severe injuries requiring surgeries and extensive care. Get health updates on Justin and Katherine using these links to their CaringBridge pages: Justin | Katherine.
You can also visit a GoFundMe page to help defray medical and funeral costs.
The family requests prayers for everyone involved in the accident, as their outcomes become clearer. We will share more information as we receive it.
Heidi was a board member of the University of Arizona Lutheran Campus Ministry, and worked with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest as Communications Coordinator in the Fund Department. She and her family are well-known to many in the synod and very active in congregation, synod, and churchwide ministries.
5/27/2022 update from Paul Gerrish, Heidi’s father:
Thank you … we appreciate all the love, support, and prayers so much, it is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, we are blessed to be surrounded by this community. Yesterday we were thankful for some good news, talking more about Kat being a good candidate for transplant surgery down the road, Justin got his arm operated on finally and is avoiding spine surgery at least for now, and Steve is progressing pretty quickly on his rehab :) Very long road ahead, and we are taking day by day. We are going to have Heidi cremated here and then plan a celebration of life in Phoenix or Tucson later when the other kids are out of hospital and can attend.
Cindy, Justin, Heidi, Julie, Katherine, Stephen, Paul.
“Living God, we are stunned by the suddenness of this accident and Heidi’s passing. Anchor us in your love, which is stronger than death, and comfort us by your Spirit. Help us to stay centered in your promise of care. Comfort all, especially the Gerrish family, in your peace and presence.
Be our rock and refuge, as we rejoice in the lives of those whom you have drawn into your eternal embrace. Keep us in joyful communion with them until we join the saints of every people and nation gathered before your throne in your ceaseless praise, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice; the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations;
I am exalted in the earth.”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah