1987 Texas flood survivors reflect on nearly 40 years of loss, faith and hope amid tragedy
For those affected by the Texas floods, the pain is overwhelming and the road to healing is uncertain.
How do you even begin to cope with such heartbreaking loss? It's a question Richard Koons has been grappling with for nearly 40 years.
"With all of this, it brings back fresh guilt," he said.
July 17, 1987, is a day forever ingrained in his memory.
At the time, he was an assistant pastor at a Mesquite church, leading a group of teens at the Pot O' Gold Christian camp near Comfort, Texas.
Early that morning, they were told they'd need to evacuate because of the risk of flooding from the Guadalupe River.
"We lined up in a caravan of buses and vans, and we started the journey," he said. "We were making a turn left, our bus stalled out, and I could see our van behind us was about halfway underwater."
Koons told the teens and his wife, who was also on board, to get off the bus and walk to a tree on higher ground.
"As we began to walk towards that dry area, the water began to rise rapidly and it just began to push people in different directions, ultimately at 70 miles an hour and the water that day went to 35 feet deep," he said.
Richard Koons lost sight of his wife and several of his students.
"It just immediately shot you down the river and I went under and I fought and fought and fought to come up and get air," Lavonda Koons said.
"I could begin to count kids in trees, or adults, and there were not enough kids and adults in the trees to account for everybody, so I knew it was bad," Richard Koons said.
Hours later he faced the unthinkable, being asked to identify a woman thought to be his wife.
"They pulled the sheet back and it wasn't her, it was one of our kids," he said. "She was a great kid."
One of 10 kids who died that day.
"You know what's crazy, she was at a tree and the last thing she said to us over the roar of the river is, 'If I don't make it, you tell my parents I love them and I'll see them in heaven,' and there is a lot to be said about that. But she knew where she was going to spend eternity," he said.
Nearly 40 years later, Richard Koons still lives with the weight of that day but has managed to find peace in his faith.
"The great comfort in all of this is I'm going to see them again," he said. "They're all believers and they're in heaven and I'm going to see them. That's what gets us through, our faith."
To all the families now mourning the loss of loved ones, he'd tell them these exact words.
Richard Koons went on to create E3 Ministries, which is devoted to educating, empowering and encouraging people.
