On June 30, 2002, Suwannee County learned of a terrible tragedy. Three precious children were snatched from life in a terrible car accident while driving to church. Tamara Suggs, 17, her 14-year-old sister April Lynn and a close friend, 10-year old Josh Jarman, died at the scene. Brittany Jarman, 13, survived with serious head injuries.

The two Suggs sisters were the only children of the Rev. Donald Suggs and his wife, Dawn of Live Oak.

“I was standing at the door of the church welcoming members,” said Donald Suggs, pastor of First Assembly of God Church of Live Oak. “I was just fixing to start church. A friend of the girls they had been visiting came up and told us there was a wreck, and it was bad. I thought it was their friend in the wreck.”

Suggs and many members of the congregation jumped into their vehicles and arrived at the wreck a short distance away while emergency personnel were still extracting the children and working to save their lives. The girls’ car had hit a tree.

None of the four kids in the car was wearing their seatbelt.

“My oldest daughter was still alive when they cut her out of the car,” Suggs said. “I could see her looking. They always wore their seatbelts. But they were running late, and they didn’t want to be late for church.”

Suggs and his wife are still struggling with the tragedy after almost four years.

“It’s hard to put into words what it does to you,” Suggs said. “What’s kept us sane is our strength in the Lord. The Lord has kept us, helped us and given us peace.”

Suggs said he had never taken any time off through the years as the church’s pastor. In June of 2002 he and his wife took several weeks off for a vacation with their girls. They visited relatives, visited friends, had a wonderful time and came back on Thursday, June 27. On Sunday both girls died in the wreck.

“It never gets any easier,” Suggs added. “You just learn to live with it. I remember right after it happened, I was in the shower. Those first days were like a blur. I was crying. I looked up and asked the Lord why, and I was filled with peace.”

Suggs said the church and the community have helped him immensely with emotional support and financial support.

“We still get cards today,” Suggs said. “From people we don’t even know. They always seem to come when we’re in a low spot and we really need them.”

Suggs still needs the community’s support because he has a new trial to deal with. Suggs has been diagnosed with an enlarged liver and colitis. His doctors told him in December he had 18 to 24 months to live.

In May of 2005 Suggs began to get sick. He has no medical insurance. He went to the doctor and was diagnosed with liver disease. With the help of the community and his church, $53,000 was raised for a transplant profile. The doctors told him they would not put him on the transplant list until he had raised $300,000 for the transplant. He can’t get insurance and Medicaid won’t cover the surgery because they say it is still considered experimental.

But Suggs is doing great considering his medical problems and his devastating loss. According to Suggs, he is getting help from local chiropractor Connie Steele. She put him on an organic diet with herbs and vitamins that has his health much improved he says.

“The doctors are amazed at how good I’m doing,” said Suggs.

Suggs and Dawn, his wife of 21 years, are doing the best they can to deal with their problems. Suggs said his wife is having a harder time dealing with his girls’ death than he is. And now he is worrying about leaving her without a provider.

“Our life revolved around our girls,” Suggs said. “They were good children, very respectful and they loved young’uns. You never saw them without a young’un on their hip. God needed a baby-sitter. That’s what we think. Daddy’s little girls are now Heaven’s girls.”

If you’d like to help with Donald Suggs’ medical bills, First Federal has a special account set up for donations. For more information contact Live Oak First Assembly of God 13793 76th Street, Live Oak, FL 32060 or call 386-330-2210 or email

pastordrsuggs@gmail.com. Check out the church website for more information as well at www.liveoakfirstassembly.20m.com.

Tears are a good thing,” Suggs said with tears running down his cheeks. “I told my girls I’d never forget them.”

Janet Schrader may be reached by calling 1-386-362-1734 ext. 134 or by emailing janet.schrader@gaflnews.com.