Loved ones honor lives of 4 Va. crash victims

Funeral services were held at Nandua High School in Virginia for members of the Ayres family who were killed in car crash a week ago. A bouquet of pink flowers, Jordan Ayres favorite color, are on display in honor of the crash victim who would've turned 8 on Saturday, Jan. 17.(Photo: Staff photo by Deborah Gates)ONANCOCK, Va. — Most wore pink for Jordan Ayres, to be laid to rest with her mother, baby brother and an aunt Saturday afternoon in a Baptist church cemetery on Virginia's Eastern Shore.Pink was Jordan's favorite color.Instead of an eighth birthday party on Saturday, hundreds gathered to celebrate a life that was.Funeral services for Jordan and other Ayres family members killed in a two-vehicle crash a week ago in Maryland's Queen Anne's County were held at Nandua High School in Onancock, Va.Killed in the Jan. 10 crash were Zarissa M. Ayres, 30, of Greenbush, Va., and her unborn child; her sister, Regina M. Ayres, 24, of Greenbush; Regina's boyfriend, Travis M. Stratton, 25, of Onancock, Va.; their 2-month-old son Jonathan Ayres; and Regina's daughter, Jordan.The family was on its way to a baby shower for Zarissa Ayres that was to have been held in Baltimore later that day.Patricia Dickerson of Eastville, a family cousin, bought a pink suit for Mother's Day last year, never imagining she'd wear it to a funeral."I was watching TV when my brother called and told me what had happened," she said, dressed in the bright pink suit. "It wasn't in the news yet."Her husband, Walter, wore a pink shirt."I can't figure this one out — to lose your kids and your grandkids" he said.Last SlideNext SlideDana Bundick, Accomack County treasurer, attended the funeral services to support Leon Ayres, who also works for the county. Leon is the father and grandfather of those who perished in the crash."We're wearing pink for Jordan," Bundick said. "Everybody is heartbroken."Some at the funeral didn't know the Ayres family personally. They came as a community gesture."Three or four churches are here," said Robert Smith of Daughtery and a member at St. Luke AME Church. "They wanted ushers, so I volunteered."Robert Crockett, a member of the Accomack County Board of Supervisors, is trying to cope with what happened. He knows Leon Ayres."It's said that the Lord does not give you more than you can bear, but this is stretching it," he said.Burial is at the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery where four graves, side by side, await them."I've put down two before, but never four," said grave digger Waymon Bell of the Shore Vault Co., in Exmore. He worked with a crew in the early hours to prepare a place for them."This is the first time I ever put down four at one time," he said. "I hope I never have to do it again."A funeral service for another victim, Travis Stratton, will be held Sunday in Wachapreague.Kentucky 'Bonnie and Clyde' teens captured in FloridaJan 18, 2015