Impact Detroit Magazine Impact Detroit Magazine Summer Issue 2015 | Page 5

DEPAYNE MIDDLETON-DOCTOR

LEIGH THOMSON/SOUTHERN WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY VIA AP

This was supposed to be a year of growth for DePayne Middleton-Doctor.
The 49-year-old mother of four had started a new job as an enrollment
counselor at Southern Wesleyan University’s Charleston campus in December.
In January, after much thought and prayer, she decided to return to her
childhood roots and attend the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She had
attended a Baptist church for years, but she felt the time was right to switch. Her
sister, Bethane Middleton Brown, said Middleton-Doctor immersed herself in
her new spiritual home immediately. ‘‘As soon as she got there, she jumped in,’’
said Brown. Middleton-Doctor was a minister in the AME church and wanted to
achieve a higher level of leadership. She led Wednesday night Bible studies
there. Middleton-Doctor’s life was consumed with the needs of four growing and active girls and helping to care for
her elderly parents. She was always going somewhere, whether it was taking a parent to a doctor’s appointment or
driving one of her girls to sports practice.
‘‘We’d say, where are you, in your house? We called her car her house,’’ Brown
said. And still, she had time to devote to her faith and speak to her sister nearly
every day.
‘‘She was definitely my best friend,’’ Brown said.
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TYWANZA SANDERS
ANITA BREWER DANTZLER VIA AP

Tywanza Sanders, 26, graduated last year from Allen University, where he
studied business. In a news release, the school described Sanders as ‘‘a quiet,
well-known student’’ with ‘‘a warm and helpful spirit.’’ On his Instagram
account, Sanders called himself a poet, artist and businessman. His photos were
filled with friends, smiles, family members and motivational quotes. Hours
before the shooting, he put up his final post, a meme with a quote from Jackie
Robinson: ‘‘A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.’’
Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Charleston, Tamara Lush in Tampa, Florida, and Michael Biesecker in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this
report.

MYRA THOMPSON
Glenn Smith

A devout woman with a clear sense of purpose, Thompson had been the perfect choice
to lead the church’s property committee. She and her pastor, Clementa Pinckney, shared
a passion for restoring and preserving Emanuel’s historic buildings, helping a church
that had survived fire, an earthquake and racial strife prosper into the future. They
worked to strengthen faith, one brick and board at a time.
Thompson spent long hours on the projects, often chatting into the night about the work
with her friend Gregorie, a fellow trustee on the committee. They didn’t always agree,
but he never doubted her devotion. With three projects down, they were now setting
their sights on the church sanctuary.
The 59-year-old mother and pastor’s wife decided more than a year ago to heed an even
deeper calling within the church — to join the ministry. As she had with the property
committee, she put her full effort into the pursuit. “She was just a very energized,
serving-God type of person,” Gregorie said. Thompson received her license to the
ministry Wednesday night. A short time later she was dead, gunned down by a young
man who she and her friends had welcomed into their house of faith.