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ALBUQUERQUE: Today, the family of Albuquerque seminarian Jason Paul Marshall, who died during a tragic bush crash Sunday afternoon discuss his heroic action to save others moments before the chartered bus veered off the highway outside of Pueblo, Colorado.
“He saw the driver in distress, grabbed the wheel and prevented the bus from flipping” as it careened off the highway, saving the lives of 13 passengers, said Marshall’s brother, Jeff. “He tried to get the bus under control.”
Marshall was chaperoning the Lobo Catholic Aquinas Newman Youth group at a Steubenville Conference in Denver returning to Albuquerque when the driver of the bus allegedly experienced a medical episode. As a result of Marshall’s heroic efforts, eyewitnesses state he saved the entire bus from further damage and loss of life.
Investigators are determining whether the 36-year-old driver, Anthony Padilla, who was also killed, suffered a seizure or some other medical episode moments before the crash. Both Marshall and Padilla were ejected from the bus upon impact.
Marshall is remembered as a rising star in the Catholic Church, but also in the pro-life community. As a close friend and supporter of the work of New Mexico Alliance for Life, he met with our Executive Director, Elisa Martinez weeks before his untimely death:
“Jason was a passionate pro-life seminarian who recently expressed his desire, once ordained to be assigned to the Catholic pro-life pregnancy center and chapel, Project Defending Life, in order to lead the Archdiocese’s pro-life activities in the absence of any full-time pro-life leadership,” said Martinez. “Jason was deeply concerned about Albuquerque’s status as the late-term abortion capital of the nation. He was also a trained Sidewalk Advocate for Life and led a group of seminarians while at seminary in San Antonio to regularly pray in front of a busy Planned Parenthood clinic there.”
“Jason was a pro-life hero every day. About a year ago, he intervened in an assault of young mother and her children by their father in New York City while on break from seminary. His immense courage and compassion was a testament to his faith. I’m proud to have known Jason,” said Michael Seibel Pro-Life State Director for the Knights of Columbus in New Mexico.
The chartered bus was traveling southbound on I-25 from Denver to Albuquerque carrying six adults and nine teens, when it struck a bridge embankment around 2:30 p.m., according to Colorado State Patrol.
A memorial mass will be held for Jason Paul Marshall on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at 10 A.M. at Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church located at 2532 Vermont St NE, Albuquerque, NM. Marshall’s family will have a funeral mass at 10 A.M. on Monday, July 1, 2019, at the Church of the Holy Family, 366 Watchogue Rd, Staten Island, NY 10314.
The Lobo Catholic Aquinas Newman Center is taking donations for the victims and families here.
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