On November 27, a Boulder, CO, newspaper reported the tragic death of Tennyson McCarty, a popular Christian speaker, magician, and ex-football player. The news of his death was tragic and many surrounded the family with prayers and encouragements of God’s plan at work. More than 1,000 people attended his memorial service.
McCarty, 32, was well respected as an “on fire Christian” who helped found campus ministries at more than 300 colleges and high schools around the world. After he was found in a creek near his home, it was assumed that McCarty hiked into the mountains to pray sometime during the week of Oct. 15 and somehow died of hypothermia, leaving his family, community, and fiancé asking why God would allow such a thing to happen. The tragic loss left some, including his older brother, suspecting Tennyson might have just known God was calling him home. Others, including his best friend, said things like “… It’s really hard to find a reason in all of this.”
On Dec. 1, the Boulder County Coroner’s Office ruled McCarty’s death to be a suicide.
Apparently, McCarty sought out his friend Scaglia and took a long walk to all their childhood haunts on the day before his hike and death. Scaglia said that conversation became emotional, leaving friends and family to wonder whether it was coincidence or God’s plan that the meeting took place just before his death.
Some had speculated Tennyson went into the mountains to take his life, but the McCarty family denied that possibility and the sheriff’s report did not point to any intentional act. On the day of his funeral, his sister said she “felt a peace that it was not Tennyson who decided his fate, but God.”
Family and friends are shaken by the tragic loss of their beloved son, mentor, and friend.
How do you help your students deal with death? How do you suggest helping students process the tragic and unfortunate irony between faithful reactions to death, McCarty’s reputation, and the emerging possibilities of the suicide?
