Photo courtesy of the Episcopal
Bart Rainey was one of the three people killed at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on June 16.
In the final act of his life, Bart Rainey represented his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, better than maybe he even knew he could.
Rainey, according to his family and local media reports, invited a man he did not know to come sit with him during a potluck dinner at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 16. That man declined Rainey’s request before pulling out a handgun and fatally shooting Rainey, 84, Sharon Yeager, 75, and Jane Pounds, 84.
“His last act, an act of compassion, taught us all what Jesus’ love really meant,” said the church’s rector, the Rev. John Burruss, at a June 22 memorial service for Rainey.
Rainey led through inclusion and hospitality at the end of his life just as he did throughout his life, Burruss said.
“Papa’s last acts of welcome and kindness, they weren’t the exception,” said Rainey’s grandson, Warner Thompson. “They were the rule.”
Rainey taught others to love, and to love the stranger, Burruss said.
Thompson said the first news of his grandfather’s death “nearly knocked” the family down with grief, but it “no longer feels like a tragedy” thanks to the blessings they have received from the surrounding community, and the grace they know Rainey showed in his last moments.
“It has brought us all to our knees, but not with anguish,” Thompson said.
“Papa,” as he was called by his grandchildren, was a “giant” in their lives, Thompson said, never missing a game, performance or recital, teaching them how to drive.
Rainey’s younger brother, Tuffy, said he can’t remember a time in his life when Rainey wasn’t there for him.
“This is a week like no other,” Tuffy said. “This kind of news is for the TV, but this week it came home, and it broke my heart into a thousand pieces.”
While Tuffy said no one had the answers as to why all of this happened, he knows what his older brother would have said.
“It’s time to get your stuff together and keep moving forward,” he said.
Tuffy said he never asked his brother when he became a Christian, but that he didn’t have to. Growing up in the same home, a strong Christian faith was instilled in them as children. His older brother’s faith in Christ was the “basis of his character,” Tuffy said.
Bart had a “servant’s heart,” Tuffy said. When he saw a need, he wanted to fix it, no matter the problem, big or small. Every time they ended a phone conversation, he’d say, “Tuff, I don’t need anything. I just wanted to check in.”
Bart walked “hand in hand” with Christ, Tuffy said.
“Now he’s home, in perfect peace,” Tuffy said. “No doubt.”
