Family, friends gather to remember Metro victims

WASHINGTON - Three of the nine victims of last week's deadly Metro train accident were remembered in separate ceremonies across the region Tuesday.

In Capitol Heights, 23-year-old LaVonda "Nikki" King was remembered as a loving mother, daughter and friend.

Family members and friends gathered at Faith Missionary Baptist Church to say a final goodbye to the mother of two young boys.

King was headed to her sons' daycare when the Red Line train she was riding on slammed into another train between the Takoma and Fort Totten Metro stations.

Those who loved her say King will always be in their hearts.

"LaVonda was such a loving, loving person," one of speakers at the service said.

King had opened LaVonda's House of Beauty in Forestville just three weeks before the accident.

Meanwhile, funeral services were held Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery for Retired Maj. Gen. David Wherley Jr. and his wife, Ann, who were also killed in the Metro accident.

On Monday night, hundreds of people packed the D.C. Armory in Southeast to remember the couple.

Wherley served as the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard from July 2003 to June 2008. Many in the gathering said the couple were down to earth despite Wherley's high rank.

"If you knew the two of them, you'd know how much they lived their lives, how well they lived their lives, and how vigorously and involved they were in wanting to help others," says retired Gen. Linda McTeague of the D.C. Air National Guard. "He was one of the nicest people you'd ever meet."

D.C. Guard Senior Master Sgt. Lynn Morrison recalled how Wherley and his wife held a New Year's Eve party in 1999 to celebrate the new millennium for the base personnel who were on duty that night.

"He and his wife gave up their own celebration and they put on a party for us in a conference room that they had decorated. I thought that was so nice to do that," Morrison says. "He truly cared about us."

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton called Wherley "a good friend," and the couple "citizens of D.C. by choice."

Holmes Norton announced that legislation to offer college tuition assistance to D.C. National Guardsmen would be named in his memory.

Wherley and his wife, a mortgage banker, were both 62. They leave behind a son, Staff Sgt. David Wherley, 36, a U.S. Army Golden Knight of Fayetteville, N.C., and daughter, Betsy Regan, 35, son-in-law John and 11-month-old granddaughter, Evann, of Charlotte, N.C.

If you are interested in making a donation to the Ann and David Wherley Charitable Gift Fund, send your checks to the following address:

Ann and David Wherley Charitable Gift Fund
c/o Lassus Wherley
1 Academy St.
New Providence, N.J., 07974.

Make checks payable to the Ann and David Wherley Charitable Gift Fund, and include the name and address of the donor on the check.

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