Miss Tanya Raschelle Christian , 21, died Monday, May 8, 2000, at Carolinas Medical Center.
Funeral service was held at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, May 11, 2000 at Monroe Full Gospel Church, 2507 Walkup Avenue. Interment was held in Hillcrest Cemetery.
Tanya was born June 22, 1978 in Alexandria, LA. She was a 1996 graduate of Monroe High School. She attended North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboroand was a 1999 graduate of Brookstone College. Tanya was employed at Mecklenburg Neurological Associates in Charlotte.
Surviving are her parents, Silas "Chris" Clyde Christian III and Barbara Colston Christian of Monroe; brother, Silas Christian Jr. of Greensboro; paternal grandmother, Olean B. Christian of Richmond, VA; and maternal grandfather, Leroy Colston Sr. of Monroe.
The family will receive friends at her parents home in Monroe.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Department of Social Services to benefit children.
Arrangements are in the care of Harris Funeral Home, 601 Winchester Ave., Monroe.
DEATH IS ON SAME DAY AS PUBLIC REDEDICATION OF LIFE
Charlotte Observer, The (NC) - Saturday, May 13, 2000
Author: KEN GARFIELD, Staff Writer
Forty-eight hours after she was taken hostage, Tanya Christian walked to the front of her church and rededicated her life to God. Fourteen hours after that, she was dead in a motorcycle wreck.
There's a message here for young people, said the Rev. Robert Leak of New St. John Baptist Church - get right with God because you never know when your time will come.
But before the last three days in Christian 's life inspires any lessons, said the preacher, it stirs sadness.
"She got saved Sunday morning and killed that Sunday night," Leak said. "Oh Lord have mercy."
Tanya Christian , 21, of Charlotte was taken hostage around 8:30 a.m. May 5 by a gunman who stormed the doctors' office where she worked on Randolph Road. He was after his estranged wife, so he released Christian 30 minutes later when she suffered an asthma attack. The man was captured without anyone being harmed.
Christian had been born again years ago, dedicating herself to Christ during that moment many evangelicals consider the start of their spiritual life. She had been attending New St. John Baptist off W.T. Harris Boulevard near The Plaza since January.
Leak, 79, said the hostage ordeal frightened Christian so severely that she thought it was time to get right with the Lord. So at Sunday's 11 a.m. service, she stood up and told the 300 worshippers about the hostage ordeal, how she thought she might die, how she thought it was time to be saved.
"She was crying," Leak said, "everyone was crying. She came through that and she didn't forget the Lord."
Leak remembers his last conversation with Christian . It came after worship. In anticipation of her being baptized by immersion after she completes a required class, he asked her if she would be able to follow the rules of the church. She said yes. Then she left to go celebrate surviving the ordeal on Friday and surrendering to God on Sunday.
At 9 Sunday evening, she was a passenger on her fiance's motorcycle on Interstate 85 when it collided with another motorcycle. She was declared dead around 1 a.m. Monday at Carolinas Medical Center. Her fiance, David Lyles, 30, survived. His mother, the Rev. Vernell Lyles, is an associate pastor at New St. John Baptist.
Silas Christian Sr. of Monroe said he didn't see his daughter on Sunday. But every time he thinks of her standing up in church and committing her life to Christ, his pain eases, if only for a moment.
"I know God has her," he said, "so my tears go dry."
Funeral service was held at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, May 11, 2000 at Monroe Full Gospel Church, 2507 Walkup Avenue. Interment was held in Hillcrest Cemetery.
Tanya was born June 22, 1978 in Alexandria, LA. She was a 1996 graduate of Monroe High School. She attended North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboroand was a 1999 graduate of Brookstone College. Tanya was employed at Mecklenburg Neurological Associates in Charlotte.
Surviving are her parents, Silas "Chris" Clyde Christian III and Barbara Colston Christian of Monroe; brother, Silas Christian Jr. of Greensboro; paternal grandmother, Olean B. Christian of Richmond, VA; and maternal grandfather, Leroy Colston Sr. of Monroe.
The family will receive friends at her parents home in Monroe.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Department of Social Services to benefit children.
Arrangements are in the care of Harris Funeral Home, 601 Winchester Ave., Monroe.
DEATH IS ON SAME DAY AS PUBLIC REDEDICATION OF LIFE
Charlotte Observer, The (NC) - Saturday, May 13, 2000
Author: KEN GARFIELD, Staff Writer
Forty-eight hours after she was taken hostage, Tanya Christian walked to the front of her church and rededicated her life to God. Fourteen hours after that, she was dead in a motorcycle wreck.
There's a message here for young people, said the Rev. Robert Leak of New St. John Baptist Church - get right with God because you never know when your time will come.
But before the last three days in Christian 's life inspires any lessons, said the preacher, it stirs sadness.
"She got saved Sunday morning and killed that Sunday night," Leak said. "Oh Lord have mercy."
Tanya Christian , 21, of Charlotte was taken hostage around 8:30 a.m. May 5 by a gunman who stormed the doctors' office where she worked on Randolph Road. He was after his estranged wife, so he released Christian 30 minutes later when she suffered an asthma attack. The man was captured without anyone being harmed.
Christian had been born again years ago, dedicating herself to Christ during that moment many evangelicals consider the start of their spiritual life. She had been attending New St. John Baptist off W.T. Harris Boulevard near The Plaza since January.
Leak, 79, said the hostage ordeal frightened Christian so severely that she thought it was time to get right with the Lord. So at Sunday's 11 a.m. service, she stood up and told the 300 worshippers about the hostage ordeal, how she thought she might die, how she thought it was time to be saved.
"She was crying," Leak said, "everyone was crying. She came through that and she didn't forget the Lord."
Leak remembers his last conversation with Christian . It came after worship. In anticipation of her being baptized by immersion after she completes a required class, he asked her if she would be able to follow the rules of the church. She said yes. Then she left to go celebrate surviving the ordeal on Friday and surrendering to God on Sunday.
At 9 Sunday evening, she was a passenger on her fiance's motorcycle on Interstate 85 when it collided with another motorcycle. She was declared dead around 1 a.m. Monday at Carolinas Medical Center. Her fiance, David Lyles, 30, survived. His mother, the Rev. Vernell Lyles, is an associate pastor at New St. John Baptist.
Silas Christian Sr. of Monroe said he didn't see his daughter on Sunday. But every time he thinks of her standing up in church and committing her life to Christ, his pain eases, if only for a moment.
"I know God has her," he said, "so my tears go dry."
Miss Tanya Raschelle Christian , 21, died Monday, May 8, 2000, at Carolinas Medical Center.
Funeral service was held at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, May 11, 2000 at Monroe Full Gospel Church, 2507 Walkup Avenue. Interment was held in Hillcrest Cemetery.
Tanya was born June 22, 1978 in Alexandria, LA. She was a 1996 graduate of Monroe High School. She attended North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboroand was a 1999 graduate of Brookstone College. Tanya was employed at Mecklenburg Neurological Associates in Charlotte.
Surviving are her parents, Silas "Chris" Clyde Christian III and Barbara Colston Christian of Monroe; brother, Silas Christian Jr. of Greensboro; paternal grandmother, Olean B. Christian of Richmond, VA; and maternal grandfather, Leroy Colston Sr. of Monroe.
The family will receive friends at her parents home in Monroe.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Department of Social Services to benefit children.
Arrangements are in the care of Harris Funeral Home, 601 Winchester Ave., Monroe.
DEATH IS ON SAME DAY AS PUBLIC REDEDICATION OF LIFE
Charlotte Observer, The (NC) - Saturday, May 13, 2000
Author: KEN GARFIELD, Staff Writer
Forty-eight hours after she was taken hostage, Tanya Christian walked to the front of her church and rededicated her life to God. Fourteen hours after that, she was dead in a motorcycle wreck.
There's a message here for young people, said the Rev. Robert Leak of New St. John Baptist Church - get right with God because you never know when your time will come.
But before the last three days in Christian 's life inspires any lessons, said the preacher, it stirs sadness.
"She got saved Sunday morning and killed that Sunday night," Leak said. "Oh Lord have mercy."
Tanya Christian , 21, of Charlotte was taken hostage around 8:30 a.m. May 5 by a gunman who stormed the doctors' office where she worked on Randolph Road. He was after his estranged wife, so he released Christian 30 minutes later when she suffered an asthma attack. The man was captured without anyone being harmed.
Christian had been born again years ago, dedicating herself to Christ during that moment many evangelicals consider the start of their spiritual life. She had been attending New St. John Baptist off W.T. Harris Boulevard near The Plaza since January.
Leak, 79, said the hostage ordeal frightened Christian so severely that she thought it was time to get right with the Lord. So at Sunday's 11 a.m. service, she stood up and told the 300 worshippers about the hostage ordeal, how she thought she might die, how she thought it was time to be saved.
"She was crying," Leak said, "everyone was crying. She came through that and she didn't forget the Lord."
Leak remembers his last conversation with Christian . It came after worship. In anticipation of her being baptized by immersion after she completes a required class, he asked her if she would be able to follow the rules of the church. She said yes. Then she left to go celebrate surviving the ordeal on Friday and surrendering to God on Sunday.
At 9 Sunday evening, she was a passenger on her fiance's motorcycle on Interstate 85 when it collided with another motorcycle. She was declared dead around 1 a.m. Monday at Carolinas Medical Center. Her fiance, David Lyles, 30, survived. His mother, the Rev. Vernell Lyles, is an associate pastor at New St. John Baptist.
Silas Christian Sr. of Monroe said he didn't see his daughter on Sunday. But every time he thinks of her standing up in church and committing her life to Christ, his pain eases, if only for a moment.
"I know God has her," he said, "so my tears go dry."
Funeral service was held at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, May 11, 2000 at Monroe Full Gospel Church, 2507 Walkup Avenue. Interment was held in Hillcrest Cemetery.
Tanya was born June 22, 1978 in Alexandria, LA. She was a 1996 graduate of Monroe High School. She attended North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboroand was a 1999 graduate of Brookstone College. Tanya was employed at Mecklenburg Neurological Associates in Charlotte.
Surviving are her parents, Silas "Chris" Clyde Christian III and Barbara Colston Christian of Monroe; brother, Silas Christian Jr. of Greensboro; paternal grandmother, Olean B. Christian of Richmond, VA; and maternal grandfather, Leroy Colston Sr. of Monroe.
The family will receive friends at her parents home in Monroe.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Department of Social Services to benefit children.
Arrangements are in the care of Harris Funeral Home, 601 Winchester Ave., Monroe.
DEATH IS ON SAME DAY AS PUBLIC REDEDICATION OF LIFE
Charlotte Observer, The (NC) - Saturday, May 13, 2000
Author: KEN GARFIELD, Staff Writer
Forty-eight hours after she was taken hostage, Tanya Christian walked to the front of her church and rededicated her life to God. Fourteen hours after that, she was dead in a motorcycle wreck.
There's a message here for young people, said the Rev. Robert Leak of New St. John Baptist Church - get right with God because you never know when your time will come.
But before the last three days in Christian 's life inspires any lessons, said the preacher, it stirs sadness.
"She got saved Sunday morning and killed that Sunday night," Leak said. "Oh Lord have mercy."
Tanya Christian , 21, of Charlotte was taken hostage around 8:30 a.m. May 5 by a gunman who stormed the doctors' office where she worked on Randolph Road. He was after his estranged wife, so he released Christian 30 minutes later when she suffered an asthma attack. The man was captured without anyone being harmed.
Christian had been born again years ago, dedicating herself to Christ during that moment many evangelicals consider the start of their spiritual life. She had been attending New St. John Baptist off W.T. Harris Boulevard near The Plaza since January.
Leak, 79, said the hostage ordeal frightened Christian so severely that she thought it was time to get right with the Lord. So at Sunday's 11 a.m. service, she stood up and told the 300 worshippers about the hostage ordeal, how she thought she might die, how she thought it was time to be saved.
"She was crying," Leak said, "everyone was crying. She came through that and she didn't forget the Lord."
Leak remembers his last conversation with Christian . It came after worship. In anticipation of her being baptized by immersion after she completes a required class, he asked her if she would be able to follow the rules of the church. She said yes. Then she left to go celebrate surviving the ordeal on Friday and surrendering to God on Sunday.
At 9 Sunday evening, she was a passenger on her fiance's motorcycle on Interstate 85 when it collided with another motorcycle. She was declared dead around 1 a.m. Monday at Carolinas Medical Center. Her fiance, David Lyles, 30, survived. His mother, the Rev. Vernell Lyles, is an associate pastor at New St. John Baptist.
Silas Christian Sr. of Monroe said he didn't see his daughter on Sunday. But every time he thinks of her standing up in church and committing her life to Christ, his pain eases, if only for a moment.
"I know God has her," he said, "so my tears go dry."
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