wfn.org | Memorial Service for Murdered Indianapolis Minister Set

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

18-December-1996 
 
 
96507      Memorial Service for Murdered Indianapolis  
                 Minister Set for Thursday 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- A memorial service for an Indianapolis minister and his 
wife who were murdered brutally in their home last weekend will be held 
Thursday morning. 
 
     The service for the Rev. C. Frederick Mathias and his wife, Cleta, 
will be held at 11 a.m.  Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Northminister 
Presbyterian Church, 1660 Kessler Blvd., East Drive, where Mathias was the 
senior pastor for the past 11 years. 
 
     The couple were killed in a brutal murder in suburban Indianapolis 
Dec. 15.  Both died of head wounds.  Firefighters found the bodies after 
responding to a neighbor's report of a fire at the Mathias home. 
 
     Officiating at the service will be the Rev. Donald Durrett and the 
Rev. Donna E. Wells, associate pastors at Northminster; and the Rev. Jill 
Hudson, executive presbyter of Whitewater Valley. 
 
     Visitation will be held at the church from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 
18. A prayer service was held for the congregation on Monday evening, Dec. 
16. 
 
       "Everyone is stunned, in shock.  We had folks streaming in and out 
of the church all day [Monday] ... I think people still find it almost 
impossible to believe," said Mark Moore, a trustee at Northminister and an 
attorney. 
 
     Security has been tightened around the church itself since the 
investigation into the murders began.  The church's pastoral staff has been 
urged to be more cautious, since police are not sure whether the murders 
were random, according to Moore.  According to Associated Press reports, 
the couple's bodies were bound with ropes and beaten with a blunt 
instrument.  An axe was lodged in Mathias' head; and an accelerant was used 
to start a fire in an upstairs hall. 
 
     "It's hard to comprehend how people could do such an act ... to people 
so giving, so sharing. To have their life end this way, I cannot imagine 
how this could be," said the Rev. Jim Bennett, who was Mathias' colleague 
for 18 years at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Del. 
"But the wonderful thing about Fred and Cleta was how they enjoyed and 
shared their life together, and shared that life with others. 
 
     "And we have to remember them that way.  Their joy for life.  Their 
joy in music, the symphony, opera.  Cleta constantly knitting to give 
things away.  Caring for those in need.  They were there." 
 
     Mathias' ministered in Donegal and New Castle Presbyteries before 
coming to Whitewater Presbytery. 
 
     The Mathias' are survived by three grown children, two sons, Mark and 
Garth Mathias, both of Wilmington, Del., and one daughter, Anne O'Neil of 
Baltimore, Md.  The children reside in Delaware and Maryland. 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

--