"We knew they were leaving," Kathryne's father, Gordy Engel, tells PEOPLE. "But we didn't anticipate it would be this forever separation."
A Minneapolis family of five was killed in a car crash on Sunday on their way to a training session in Colorado to become missionaries.
Jamison and Kathryne Pals, both 29, were passing through Nebraska with their three small children, Ezra, 3, Violet, 23 months, and Calvin, 2 months, when a semi-trailer vehicle rammed into the family’s minivan. Both vehicles immediately combusted – and the entire Pals family died at the scene.
“We knew they were leaving to go to training,” Kathryne’s father, Gordy Engel, tells PEOPLE. “But we didn’t anticipate it would be this forever separation.”
“The last time we saw Jamison and Kathryne, we got together and held hands and prayed with them,” Nancy Engel, Kathryne’s mother, adds. “That was the last time we saw them.”
The grieving parents say they harbor no ill will towards the driver of the semi-truck, identified as 53-year-old Tony A. Weekly, who survived the accident and was treated at a Colorado hospital.
“We have been praying for Tony,” says Nancy. “We do not have bitterness towards him.”
Posted by Kathryne Pals on Monday, September 8, 2014
Kathryne and Jamison met at the University of Northwestern-St.Paul, an evangelical Christian college in Minnesota, and had a “really beautiful family life” according to Kathryne’s parents.
They were devout Christians who planned to dedicate their lives as missionaries in Japan.
“Their life was centered on their faith and their children, they really parented together,” explains Gordy. “Jamison was a great father and both were so patient and kind.”
Posted by Kathryne Pals on Sunday, August 3, 2014
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Kathryne and Jamison spent years getting ready to move to Japan and become missionaries through an agency called WorldVenture.
They kept a blog documenting their preparation on joyofjapan.org, where they also posted updates on Ezra, Violet and Calvin.
In their last post, the couple wrote about each of their beloved children.
Posted by Jamison Pals on Friday, July 22, 2016
