EMMETT, Idaho — The greatest love LDS Bishop Blake Probst could extend to his two teenage children who died in a drowning accident was to conduct their funerals.
The greatest love he could extend to their three friends who died in the same accident will be to conduct their funerals Tuesday.
"They've seen me sit on the stand for years," he said during his funeral remarks. "It seemed like the best thing I could do was to sit on the stand one last time for them."
With a commanding sense of calm, Bishop Probst began the funeral of his 15-year-old daughter, Brooke, and 13-year-old son, Brant, by noting what a "totally awesome sight" it was to see a congregation of members and community residents fill the Emmett Idaho Stake Center and cultural hall of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Saturday.
"If you're looking for something hard to do," he said, "stand on the side while watching your babies drown."
Earlier that week, on Tuesday, Brooke Probst was driving a carpool of students including her brother and their three friends, 15-year-old Megan Walker, 14-year-old Tyler Walker and 12-year-old Kyle Walker, from their rural homes in Sweet to school in nearby Emmett about 7:30 a.m.
While passing Black Canyon Reservoir, her 1989 Ford Tempo veered off the icy road and plunged 20 feet into a murky pond of cold water. Idaho law permits 15-year-old drivers.
None survived by the time rescue crews hoisted the wreckage from the pond by tow truck. News of the tragedy swept through this rural community of about 12,000.
"We are a close-knit community," said Pastor Melvin Adams of the Community Bible Church in Emmett. "I didn't know the teens, but youth in our church knew them, and I felt their grief." Pastor Adams and other religious leaders in the community were invited to offer spiritual counsel to grieving community members during the week and to attend the viewing held the night before the funeral of the Probst teens.
During the funeral, the high school track coach said that during earlier training, only one person beat sophomore Brooke Probst in the 40-meter dash — her best friend, Megan Walker.
Bishop Probst spoke of the boys' playful nature, telling how they took a dummy from the Halloween display at the elementary school and stole quietly into a neighbor's home to place it in the bathroom. The neighbor responded by creating a ghost on a stick and waving it across the window of the Probst home.
Marquees and signs from a variety of businesses along Washington Avenue, in the center of town, expressed their condolences and offers of prayer. Friends and classmates gathered during the public viewing of the five friends in the Emmett stake center.
"They helped me feed the animals," Bishop Probst said. "They always wanted to ride a horse or an ATV. They never backed down from hard work. They were my buddies."
E-mail: shaun@desnews.com