Vigil for Indianapolis family members killed in duck boat ride

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A near west side church will host a vigil to mourn nine members of an Indianapolis family who died Thursday in a duck boat accident in Branson, Missouri. In all, 17 people died when the boat sank. 

The community is invited to attend a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Monday at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, at 1003 W. 16th St., for the Coleman family, the Rev. Carl Liggins Sr. confirmed to News 8 on Sunday. 

“Tia’s faith is what’s allowing her to even deal with this at the point that she’s dealing with it,” Liggins said. “I mentioned to my congregation today (Sunday), I don’t know if I could have, and I’m a pastor, be able to handle it with any more strength than she is handling with it now. We just want to come together as an additional source of inspiration and encouragement to her.” 

Tia Coleman spoke from a wheelchair Saturday afternoon at Cox Medical Center in Branson, Missouri, recounting her experience on the sinking boat and sharing memories about her husband, Glenn, 40; her sons, 9-year-old Reese and 7-year-old Evan; and her 1-year-old daughter Arya, who all died after the duck boat capsized Thursday night. Her husband’s parents, sister, uncle and a nephew also died in the boat. Of their 11 family members aboard, only Tia and her nephew, Donovan survived.

Tia’s husband Glenn and their three children will have a visitation from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday at Grace Apostolic Church, located at 649 22nd Street. Their homegoing service will begin at noon. 

Eleven members of the Coleman family went on a vacation to Branson, where they boarded the ill-fated boat after a ticket mix-up. Tia says the boat’s captain showed passengers where the life vests were located but said they would not need them. 

Coleman described the captain taking over when they reached the lake:

“Once he takes over, this big huge waves choppy, everybody started getting like, ‘Hey, this is getting a little bit too much,’” said Coleman, “and then it got really choppy, and big swells of water started coming in to the boat. Then a really huge wave swept over, and when that wave swept over, the last thing I heard my sister-in-law say was ‘grab the baby.’”

That’s when the boat started sinking.

A GoFundMe was created to help with the medical expenses of the survivors. 

The victims of the boat ride were later identified as: 

• William Asher, 69, St. Louis, Mo.
• Rosemarie Hamann, 68, St. Louis Mo.
• Janice Bright, 63, Higginsville, Mo.
• William Bright, 65, Higginsville, Mo.
• Angela Coleman, 45, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Arya Coleman, 1, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Belinda Coleman, 69, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Ervin Coleman, 76, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Evan Coleman, 7, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Glenn Coleman, 40, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Horace Coleman, 70, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Maxwell Coleman, 2, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Reece Coleman, 9, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Leslie Dennison, 64, Illinois.
• Bob Williams, 73, Branson.
• Lance Smith, 15, Osceola, Ark.
• Steve Smith, 53, Osceola, Ark.

Investigators blamed stormy weather for the accident Thursday evening on Table Rock Lake. Winds at the time were blowing as hard as 65 mph.

Fourteen people survived, including seven who were injured when the boat went down, state police said.