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American Morning

Funeral Services for Yates Children Today

Aired June 27, 2001 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin this morning with the heart-wrenching story out of Houston, Texas. Funeral services will be held this morning -- later on this morning for the five children allegedly drowned by their mother a week ago. The father, Russell Yates, plans to deliver the eulogy.

About 100 people turned out last night to pay their respects to those children. The deaths of them -- the children, ages 6 months to 7 years, sent shock waves through the community and across the country.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now, live, from Houston. Ed has the latest.

Good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, we're here at the Clear Lake Church of Christ, just a few blocks away from where the Yates children lived, and the minister of this church who will be leading this morning's service spoke to us a short time ago, talking about how difficult it is to have to eulogize five young children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REVEREND BYRON FIKE, CLEAR LAKE CHURCH OF CHRIST: This is just a horrible thing. I don't really know how he's doing internally. Outwardly, he's functioning. He's getting the things done that he has to do and he's staying very task oriented. He's been very involved in arranging pictures to remember the children by, selecting the caskets and, you know, he's just stayed very focused and on task. But as to what's going on for him internally, I don't really know. He is a man of faith. He does believe in the Lord Jesus and he is confident that he's going to see these children again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: The minister there talking about Russell Yates. And as you might imagine, given everything that's happened over the last week, Russell Yates' thoughts are with his children. And the minister said that a eulogy that he will give this morning for his five children, only 1 in 1,000 people could pull off and the minister thinks that Russell Yates is that man and his thoughts are definitely with his children this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL YATES, FATHER: We took this just before Mary was born.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Russell Yates clutches the last formal picture his family took together, a smiling reminder of the happy times with five children.

YATES: We used to go out here and shoot basketball -- my oldest son. I was glad, too, yesterday, you know, I was thinking he won the last game of horse we played, so I was -- I was happy about that for him because he was real competitive.

LAVANDERA: Seven-year old Noah was also a caring son. Mr. Yates says he would sit down with Noah and write down activities that would help relieve Andrea Yates' stress. Neighbors and friends described the Yates children as lively, gentle, and bright. The smiles of 2- year old Luke, 3-year old Paul, 5-year old John, Noah, and 6-month old Mary seemed to engage everyone.

DIANE BOSSOM, NEIGHBOR: I always just saw a happy family, and I saw kids playing, kids laughing, the father interacting with the kids. I can't say there was ever anything that would have made me wonder what was going on with this family. By all accounts, they were the Cleavers.

TERRY ARNOLD, BOOKSTORE EMPLOYEE: I cannot get those children's faces out of my head.

LAVANDERA: Terry Arnold adored the Yates children. She works at a home schooling bookstore Andrea Yates often visited with her children. Arnold says the Yates children lit up the store when they walked in.

ARNOLD: I would stop what I was doing and play with the children because they were just so pleasant. I really enjoyed spending time -- we'd refer to them as our favorite customers. We'd see them pull up and we'd go, oh, they're here. So it was -- it was fun. We looked forward to seeing them.

LAVANDERA: When Russell Yates left the house last Wednesday morning, he was already looking forward to seeing the kids after work. His last moments with the children are still frames in time he'll never forget.

YATES: I hugged and kissed everybody goodbye before I went to work that day and that's how I want to remember them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: The memorial service, which is scheduled to start in about two-and-a-half hours, will be closed to -- a private funeral just for family and friends. We're told that during the eulogy as Mr. Yates eulogizes each child individually, a projection imagine of each child will be put up on the wall for everyone to see. And again, that is scheduled to start here in about two-and-a-half hours -- Leon. HARRIS: All right. Ed, now in the couple of hours that are to come before that service gets underway, are there a bit -- any arrangements being made for large crowds around or outside that church?

LAVANDERA: Well, the sanctuary, we're told, can hold up to about 500 people. The minister said a short time ago that they've put out the word that they only want family and friends to attend. And there's a police presence here, and it's mostly just for traffic control it appears, but the minister is hoping that people just respect those wishes and then they'll leave it at that.

HARRIS: Yes, it'll be interesting to see what the turnout really does turn out to be.

Ed Lavandera in Houston, thanks much. We'll get back to you later on.

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