By Kathleen Gilbert
OWOSSO, Michigan, September 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The sidewalk outside Owosso High School where pro-lifer Jim Pouillon was shot and killed became hallowed ground for hundreds of pro-lifers who attended a prayer vigil in his honor Sunday afternoon.
Pouillon, 63, was shot multiple times while carrying a pro-life sign in front of the school early Friday morning. After being taken into custody later that day, suspect Harlan James Drake reportedly told prosecutors that he targeted the locally famous pro-life activist because of his message.
Pro-Life mourners gathered at 3 p.m. Sunday to sing, read from the Bible, and share personal stories from Pouillon's life. Notes, balloons, and flowers were piled on the spot where Pouillon stood when he was gunned down. Many held signs silently calling attention to the gruesome reality of abortion – disturbing images that the veteran pro-lifer exposed so doggedly that he became known locally as “the abortion sign guy.”
Daughter Mary Jo Pouillon, who held her father's bible throughout the prayer service, said her father would have “loved all the attention” that the tragedy drew, not to himself, but to the pro-life cause.
“He always told me that when he went to heaven that he wanted to go while on the corner saving babies,” the 26-year-old told the Argus-Press. “God heard him.”
Miss Pouillon recalled that “a lot of people in Owosso hated my dad” for his pro-life witness. “They threatened him in all kinds of ways,” she said. “We talked about it before, and my father was ready to go for the Lord. I whole-heartedly backed up my dad and every decision he made.”
“I do think he died for the cause of Right to Life,” Monica Migliorino Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and organizer of the vigil, told The Flint Journal. “Because of his Christian faith, he stood up and died for the cause of life and for his faith.”
As he is believed to be the first pro-life activist killed while witnessing to the cause, Pouillon has been hailed as the “first American pro-life martyr.”
Michigan Citizens for Life chairman Cal Zastrow, who called Pouillon the “first American pro-life martyr,” said his friend had received numerous death threats over the years.
“This happened weekly to Jim, where people threatened to kill him. … Jim was ready,” Zastrow said.
A memorial service is scheduled to be held for Pouillon at Owosso's Mowen Funeral Home at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Obama Issues Statement Condemning “Deplorable” Murder of Michigan Pro-Lifer
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09091405.html
“Jim the Sign Guy”: Slain Pro-Lifer, Father of Two, Remembered by Friends as Cheerful, Peaceful Activist
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09091104.html
Well-Known Local Pro-Life Activist Gunned Down in Michigan
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09091101.html