Calvin Mourns The Loss of Friend, Colleague

November 2 , 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Calvin College is mourning the loss of a friend and a colleague.

Pat Prince was felled yesterday by what may have been a heart attack while
working in the Campus Store where she was employed as the merchandise and book
event coordinator since August 2000. She was not noticed for several minutes,
but when she was discovered CPR immediately was administered by a fellow Campus
Store employee. That process was continued by emergency rescue personnel upon
their arrival at Calvin. None of those rescue efforts were successful however
and Pat was pronounced dead later in the afternoon at a local hospital. She was
just 53 years old.

In a message to the Calvin community college president Gaylen Byker said:
"There is nothing that can prepare us for this sudden death of a friend and
co-worker. But we know that Pat knew, and lived, the comfort that we lean on in
these gut-wrenching times, the comfort we have as Christians in knowing that we
are not our own, but belong body and soul to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
We praise God for Pat's life and we pray for the many, many people who are
mourning this too-soon passing."

Friends and co-workers say Pat poured herself into her work at Calvin each
day. Campus Store director Tom VanWingerden remembers Pat's ever-present
vigilance in regards to customer service.

"She was the customer service sheriff here," he says. "She took it very
personally to make sure we were oriented to the customer."

He says too that working at the Campus Store was more than just a job for
Pat.

"Like so many at Calvin she viewed her job as a ministry," he says. "She
believed it was her calling to serve the public here."

VanWingerden says Prince had a deep faith and expressed it openly.

"The morning she passed away," he says, "she had mentioned to a fellow
employee that in her morning prayers that day she had prayed specifically for
the store and for her colleagues."

For the complete story, including a picture, see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/pprince.htm

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Received on Thu Nov 2 12:27:05 2006