By Hayleigh Colombo and Dave Smith

hcolombo@jconline.com

WEST BEND, Wis. — There was standing room only Tuesday in St. Frances Cabrini Church as family, friends and former classmates of Andrew Boldt gathered on a bitter, icy night to say goodbye to the Purdue University student who was slain during a shooting last week on the West Lafayette campus.

A closed casket covered in golden sunflowers was front and center in the crowded sanctuary, along with a smiling portrait of the 21-year-old man whose friends knew as Drew.

"Sometimes in life there really are no words," the Rev. Nathan Reesman told about 900 mourners who came to this suburb north of Milwaukee to pay their respects to Boldt and his family.

"But there are emotions. There is shock, and outrage, and sadness. There is fear and there is helplessness. … And on top of all of that, it is bitterly cold. Cold like the calculated taking of a life in a brutal fashion. Cold like violence is cold."

Boldt, who was an undergraduate teaching assistant studying engineering, was shot and stabbed Jan. 21 in an electrical engineering classroom. Cody Cousins, an undergraduate teaching assistant in the same program, has been charged with murder in connection to the event.

Though a week has passed since Boldt's death, few answers are known about why he was the target of what mourners called a senseless act. It was the first shooting on Purdue's campus in 17 years.

Not knowing, said Reesman, is weighing on Boldt's family and friends. He is survived by his father, James, and mother, Mary, along with two brothers, Erich and Nate.

"There aren't any answers right now that are very satisfying," Reesman said. "Now is a time to cry and be together."

Boldt's family, friends and classmates in Wisconsin were joined by a sizable contingent from the West Lafayette community.

Two buses carrying nearly 80 Purdue students and counselors arrived in West Bend around 5 p.m. To keep warm in the freezing weather, they donned hats and scarves with Purdue insignia. Two students embraced as they walked toward the church.

"Purdue's a very tight community for a school that's our size," President Mitch Daniels said. "It's hard to explain to an outsider the sense of family that prevails there, and I think that's what's reflected in busloads of students that came tonight."

In their search for answers, Boldt's loved ones said they are trying to focus on their friend.

"A lot of times you don't know what to think," said Will Pierson of Oconomowoc, Wis., who attended Marquette University High School with Boldt in Milwaukee. "It's hard to process. There doesn't seem to be a lot of reason behind it. It's kind of a senseless thing….You know, I've just been focusing on positive things about his life."

Andrew Henke, 21, of Germantown, Wis., was another high school classmate. They rode the bus to school together, and along the way, developed inside jokes.

"It's surreal," Henke said. "I keep expecting him to be here, to see him on Facebook."

Henke's mother, Pam, choked back tears as she listened to her son's memories of his fallen friend.

"I'm able to hug my son," Pam Henke said. "I can't imagine what Mary is going through. She isn't able to hug her son."

The grief of losing Boldt has left those closest to him silent.

Overwhelmed with support from near and far, Boldt's parents and brothers did not speak with the media Tuesday, although Reesman said they have been "remarkably composed" during the past week in the wake of a personal tragedy that garnered attention from national news outlets.

The parents learned about their son's death some time after social media coverage and online reports flooded the news about the shooting at Purdue, said the Rev. Warren Sazama, president of Marquette University High School.

"It was some time before Jim and Mary really got a confirmation," Sazama said. "They were just clearly in absolute shock. She (told me) 'I never thought I'd wake up one morning and be a statistic.'"

Daniels said he admires the family for holding up so well.

"Words have not been invented that you can say under those circumstances," Daniels said. "I have encountered very few folks like them in my life who at a time of loss somehow manage to inspire you when you're trying in a fumbling way to say something encouraging to them."

David Meyer, the professor of electrical and chemical engineering who hired both Boldt and Cousins as teaching assistants, released a letter Tuesday in memoriam to Boldt.

Meyer called Boldt one of his "brightest and best students in recent history, who was also one of my most dependable and trustworthy undergraduate teaching assistants."

Boldt's high school math teacher, Jean Morrell, read the St. Ignatius Prayer during the funeral Mass.

"It's still surreal, I have to say," said Morrell, who is a Purdue graduate, as her eyes welled up with tears in the church. "I've spoken with Drew's mom a few times this week. I have Nate in class."

"But today's the reality for me of knowing that he's gone and it is surreal and very difficult. I see so many of my former students coming in, and their hearts are broken."

Preparing for the journey

With watering eyes, they walked to the buses, toting pillows, holding paper coffee cups and carrying suit jackets and ties.

More than 75 students climbed onto three Purdue University buses idling in an icy parking lot near Ross-Ade Stadium around noon Tuesday.

Almost exactly a week before, down to the hour, tragedy struck Purdue's campus, leaving one student, Andrew Boldt, dead and another, Cody Cousins, charged with murder.

"This has been a long emotional week," Jim Hintz, interim dean of students, said as he prepared to board a bus. "Andrew was beloved on this campus."

Going to Boldt's visitation and funeral Mass at St. Frances Cabrini Church in West Bend, Wis., was a way to support Boldt's family, grieve with those who loved him and — most of all — say goodbye to a friend, students said.

"The weather, the distance and just the emotion that these students have been through over the past few days, we thought it was important to provide professional drivers to get them there and back safely," Hintz said.

E.J. Williams, a junior, said having the buses made it possible for any student to go, regardless if he or she had a car or the gas money to make the four-hour drive.

Williams, who had Boldt as a teaching assistant and later shared the job with him, said Boldt was always the most popular and in-demand TA because he really took the time to help others.

"He was always there for the questions," Williams said. "He was a geek in the best way possible."

The long bus ride was a time for reflection, Hintz said. His office planned the transportation to Wisconsin and made sure each bus had counselors to provide support for the range of emotions students are feeling.

Adam Rice is a junior and president of Cary Club, the hall council for Cary Quadrangle. He said Boldt was the one he'd go to for advice. A clear thinker, an intelligent student and a leader, Boldt was also the council's vice president, Rice said.

Rice said having transportation to Wisconsin was a surprise.

"I wasn't expecting this to come together and happen," he said. "A campus this large, a lot of people have the idea that it's insensitive or cold. But I think this event really showed we can pull together as a community, just like any other campus can."

— Contributing: MaryJane Slaby/mjslaby@jconline.com

How to donate

In lieu of flowers, the Boldt family requests donations made in Andrew Boldt's memory to the Andrew F. Boldt Memorial Scholarship Fund, St. Frances Cabrini Church, or Marquette University High School. Donations can be mailed to the church at 1025 S. Seventh Ave., West Bend, WI 53095.