Community Remembers, Honors Life Of NDSU Student
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – There are still questions as to what happened to Tom Bearson, but officers in Fargo, N.D. say they now believe he is gone.
Twenty minutes into a morning search for Bearson, a searcher found a body matching his description.
Bearson has been missing from North Dakota State University's campus since Saturday. He is a native of Sartell, Minn.
The town gathered Tuesday evening to honor his life.
Mass isn't typically held in the parish on Tuesday nights.
It was prompted by something unexpected and unwanted.
The vigil to pray for that return was changed midday into a service of remembrance. That's when word got out that Bearson was gone.
"My heart has been broken ever since I heard Tommy was missing," family friend Jean Bevans said.
The pews of Bearson's home parish were full, some with friends, some with family, some both.
"Tommy Bearson was my grandson's best friend, and when I would see Tommy Bearson he would come up and give me a big hug and call me grandma," Bevans said.
His peers say in high school, he was a bit of a star.
"He's one of the eat basketball players on the team," Halie Kaufman said.
Now a respected teenage boy has become a remembered young man.
To further make the point of Bearson's popularity, the church held an estimated 1,000 people inside Tuesday. We're told his family has not yet made funeral plans.
