By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Brandywine Community Schools family was saddened Wednesday evening as they learned of the death of one of their own.
Joe Larry Nekvasil, 56, of Buchanan served as an elementary counselor for the district for 22 years.
Deputies from the Berrien County Sheriff's Department went to Nekvasil's home Wednesday evening on the report of a missing person after Nekvasil's family members became worried as they had not seen him in 24 hours, said Lt. Paul Toliver of the Berrien County Sheriff's Department.
Nekvasil's body was eventually located near his home by two of his co-workers who were helping to search for him, Toliver said. He had apparently taken his own life, Toliver said.
Upon learning of Nekvasil's death, a group of Brandywine teachers, counselors and administrators met with members of the Berrien County Intermediate School District Crisis Response Team. The crisis team has training and experience in grief counseling and response to tragedy.
One of the difficult issues discussed was how the district should handle the issue of Nekvasil's decision to take his own life, Rider said.
As part of the discussion, team members sought advice of Lisa Bartozcek, director of Lori's Place, a grief healing and education center for children.
Bartozcek's direction was to give all of the students accurate age-appropriate information about what happened, including the fact that Nekvasil had taken his own life.
Rider said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon Bartozcek told the team the children need the honest facts to be able to process what has happened and need to feel like adults have been honest with them.
Teachers were called Wednesday evening and the staff at each Brandywine facility met Thursday morning to be briefed on how the day was to proceed, Rider said.
Teachers read age appropriate statements to their students at the beginning of the school day and spent time discussing the tragedy with their students, Rider said.
Counseling centers were set up in each of the buildings, which were staffed by Brandywine and Berrien County Intermediate School District crisis team members, so that students and staff could receive assistance as needed to get through the difficult day.
Rider said staff will meet again with their principals at the end of each day to debrief and to identify those who many still be in need of support. Counseling will continue at each of the district's buildings for the students and staff who are still in need. Nekvasil attended and graduated from Galien High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in social science from Southern Utah State University. After that, he earned his master's degree in guidance and counseling from Western New Mexico Univeristy in Silver City, New Mexico.
Nekvasil served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1971.
He was employed as a kindergarten through sixth grade counselor in New Buffalo Schools in 1979 for one semester. He then worked as a seventh through 12th grade counselor for six years in the Galien Community Schools, where he also coached football and track.
Nekvasil was hired in 1985 as the Brandywine Elementary School counselor.