LAFAYETTE, Tenn. – A minister who was helping lead tornado recovery efforts in Lafayette and his family have been killed in a traffic accident two days after the storm.
The Highway Patrol and Lafayette United Methodist Church have confirmed that minister Michael L. Welch died Thursday when his van was struck by a tractor-trailer.
Welch's wife, Julie, his 11-year-old daughter, Hannah, and his 14-year-old son, Jesse, also died when the truck slammed into the rear of their vehicle.
Welch had helped set up his church as a family crisis center, where he and pastors from other churches provided grief counseling. A tornado killed 14 people in Macon County on Tuesday.
A secretary at the church said Welch, who was 51, is survived by an adult son.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox