6-year-old remembered for his innocence
EFFIE — People at Lafargue Elementary School remember Jeremy Mardis' blue eyes and big smile. They remember how he could go from being upset to sitting very still when promised a snack in the school nurse's office. They remember his loving nature and his innocence.
Those thoughts came to mind Monday for people closest to him at the school where he was a first-grader. Six-year-old Jeremy was killed last week during a police pursuit in Marksville that also seriously wounded his father. Jeremy was buried Monday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Two Marksville Ward 2 deputy city marshals, Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Derrick Stafford, have been charged with his murder.
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The loss has left some at Lafargue "devastated." Although his reach at the school wasn't wide, it was deep for a close circle he saw daily.
"He was just a wonderful child that we're going to deeply miss," said his teacher, Roxanne Couvillion.
Lafargue faculty and staff didn't have long to get to know Jeremy, as he came to the school last April, Principal Sharice Sullivan said. But he grew close to people like Couvillion, who spent all day every day during the week with Jeremy and four other students. As an autistic child, Jeremy was in a self-contained class.
His teacher and classmates said goodbye from Avoyelles Parish by sending a package to his family in Mississippi. It included photos of Jeremy taken during class that Couvillion printed and had bound. His classmates colored sheets for Jeremy, and one added glue and glitter "to make it pop." They printed out a poem they found online and decorated it, too.
The package was cathartic for the whole class, whether children or adults.
"It did (help me), knowing that we could make the family see how much we cared for him," Couvillion said with tears Monday.
Couvillion and her students also have had access to grief counselors. One came with the principal last Wednesday, the day after Jeremy's death, to tell the class.
"We were just, of course, devastated," Couvillion said. "None of us wanted to believe it."
Sullivan's reaction had been the same.
"When I came to work that morning and heard it was a child, I never assumed it would have been one of ours," she said.
Remembering Jeremy
Couvillion said Jeremy loved the outdoors, playing on one of the classroom iPads and working at stations with his classmates.
"He had the most beautiful eyes and sweetest smile," Couvillion said.
School nurse Tammy LaCombe also remarked about Jeremy's eyes — "the prettiest blue eyes." She saw him a few times a week, often on his "bad days" when he was disrupting class.
"I saw him at his best and at his worst," LaCombe said.
He would come to her office to calm down after an outburst. Sometimes she helped him with a snack or by rubbing his arm as a sensory integration technique.
"This was a safe haven for him," she said, referring to her office. "He would cry in my lap."
Her personal experience with an autistic relative not only gave her the tools to help Jeremy but also a "soft spot" for him.
She described him as a very loving and innocent child. While Jeremy was 6 years old, in some aspects — like his vocabulary — LaCombe said he was more like a 2-year-old, "which makes him even, in my opinion, more innocent."
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When the principal told her of Jeremy's death, LaCombe said she couldn't understand it.
"It's just like as if what she was telling me was at a distance," she said.
Lafargue Elementary has faced loss before. Two students died in a fire last spring, LaCombe said. But this death really hit home for her.
"I didn't know them like I knew Jeremy," she said.
Although it's still a hard incident to understand, LaCombe said she doesn't want to focus on placing blame. Instead, she focuses on where Jeremy is now.
"All I know is that he's in a good place," she said. "He had a heart of gold. He's in heaven where he belongs and he can talk away."
'Business as usual as best we can'
Avoyelles Parish schools Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said grief counselors were at the school Wednesday, the day after Jeremy's death, and one remained Thursday. Now they are available as needed.
"That's the normal response," Dauzat said. "It was a little different this time since he was new to the district. ... I hate that I can't say I knew the kid. From everything I've heard he was a great kid, always smiling."
Dauzat continues to monitor the situation with district and school administration and through the school's liaison. His usual meeting at the Central Office on Monday didn't have much of an agenda this week, but Dauzat said he felt they needed it.
"It's kind of a family atmosphere here. We're so small," Dauzat said. "... I said, 'Guys, I don't have a lot, but I felt like we needed to meet, needed to talk.'"
It was a time to check in on everyone, including those at the district-level, as a tragedy like this can affect everyone.
"We forget about them. We have grief counseling for the kids, grief counseling for the teachers, administrators. But what about the ones counseling them?" Dauzat asked.
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The district is moving forward through the "surreal" incident and the aftermath, the superintendent said.
"We have to go about business as usual as best we can while at the same time making sure our people are OK and honoring Jeremy," Dauzat said.
Jeremy's reach continues to move beyond Avoyelles Parish through news media and social media. A public Facebook group, "Justice for Jeremy Mardis and Chris Few," his father, has attracted more than 1,500 members. The page states that it was created by a friend of Jeremy's grandmother and includes the hashtag, #justiceforjeremy.
A Go Fund Me account also has been created under the name "Justice for Jeremy Mardis" to allow the public to donate toward Jeremy's funeral arrangements.
Funeral in Mississippi'
In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Monday afternoon, a white hearse waited outside Moore Funeral Home on Hardy Street, as groups of two or three mourners straggled in for Mardis' funeral — the children dressed in brightly colored clothes in contrast to the more somberly attired adults.
The service, which was not open to the media, was scheduled to run about 20 minutes, but closer to 40 minutes passed before mourners began to disperse. A small coffin was placed inside the hearse for the trip to the cemetery in Beaumont. Family and friends went to waiting cars and joined behind as two police officers on motorcycles led the procession.
Survivors include Jeremy's mother, Katie Mardis of Hattiesburg; his sister, Alyssa Simmons of Hattiesburg; and his grandparents, Cathy Mardis of Hattiesburg and Terry Mardis of New Augusta, Mississippi.