Parents Of Boy Killed At Zoo Ask For Toy Truck Donations
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Maddox Derkosh looked out into his world, laughing, glasses perched on his nose.
Everyone who sees his picture aches for the loss of the little boy and his grieving family, including his mother Elizabeth and his father Jason.
He was their only child.
"I saw what happened, and I thought, 'Oh my goodness, this just has to be unspeakable beyond words,'" Father David Bonnar of St. Bernard Church said.
Bonnar immediately offered prayers for the family, and also for the priest or minister who would have to find the words of consolation.
"Little did I know that I would be the priest," he said.
This Friday at 10 a.m., the faithful will gather at St. Bernard Church in Mt. Lebanon - and Father Bonnar will celebrate a mass of Christian burial for Maddox Derkosh.
"There are a gamut of emotions that come with death and nowhere is that more true than the death of a young child," Bonnar said. "And those emotions are raw, we all feel them."
On Thursday, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., friends can visit with the Derkosh family at the Slater Funeral Home on Greentree Road.
And, in memory of Maddox, the family is asking those visitors to bring with them toy construction trucks.
It's not hard to envision a boy's small hand with all the appropriate noises of make-believe. Maddox loved to play with trucks and always shared his toys.
All of the toy trucks will be donated to a children's charity at Christmas. They will be a gift from Maddox - to make new memories.
And, for his family, it is in memories past that healing may come - it will take time.
"We live in a culture that wants quick fixes and instant, instant results," Bonnar said. "It's a journey - that's what we believe - a journey in faith."
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