NEW PALESTINE — A mother and two of her children who died in a plane crash were remembered by their church family Sunday as people who gave of themselves and lived with purpose.
Greenfield native Lisa Borinstein, 52, her 19-year-old son, Luke, and her 15-year-old daughter, Emma, died Friday in Virginia. The Shelby County residents were on the way to see their son and brother, Drew Borinstein, graduate from Virginia Military Institute.
The plane they were riding in crashed into trees after an aborted attempt to land at an airport near Fredericksburg, Virginia. The three Borinsteins were killed, as were the pilot, 64-year-old William Hamerstadt of Carmel; the plane’s owner, 73-year-old Robert Ross of Louisville, Kentucky; and 15-year-old Maren Timmerman of Berlin, Germany. Timmerman was a foreign exchange student at Triton Central High School, where Emma was a sophomore and Luke had graduated.
A celebration of life service is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the high school, 4774 W. Shelby County Road 600N, Fairland.
Sunday, pastors at Brookville Road Community Church in New Palestine set aside the current sermon series and spoke of the Borinsteins, who already had suffered the death of husband and father John Borinstein in March 2015.
At one point, the congregation broke into smaller groups to pray together, remembering surviving brothers Drew and Beau, Emma’s twin, who had remained home for a football scrimmage Friday.
In other moments, pastors, their voices frequently trembling with emotion, remembered the faithfulness of the family.
“I think about the way they gave of themselves,” lead pastor Kris Sorensen said to the congregation.
Lisa had helped with the church’s student ministries, said Paul Romoser, pastor of family life. He and others also spoke of Emma’s vivacious personality and of Luke’s deep faith. Romoser remembered a youth service trip in which he found Luke up at 6 a.m., reading his Bible, after long hours of work the day before.
Andy Flink, pastor of discipleship, talked about God being able to handle a person’s hard questions.
The church played a video clip from a past service focusing on youth, in which Luke spoke, saying there was nothing more fulfilling than living the life God has planned for a person. Sorensen said the Borinsteins lived meaningfully in the years of life they had.
“Lives are not cut short by number of years,” he said. “They are cut short by lack of purpose.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
