She died tragically, but her missionary zeal will live on
Young woman studied at local Bible college
CAMBRIDGE — Tatiana Blackburn dreamed of helping the world. Her death at 20 won’t stop her dreams from coming true.
A missionary fund called Tat’s Kids Peru has been launched to honour her desire. She did missionary work in the South American country with her family, who run an orphanage there.
Her family is also making plans to build a home for abused children named Tat’s Place in Peru, and they hope to create a scholarship in her memory.
Blackburn, a student at Heritage College and Seminary in Cambridge, was killed Aug. 17 in a highway collision in the United States.
She was returning from a road trip to Western Canada with her fiancé, Matthew Collins, 24, who survived the crash.
Her death has shaken the Baptist Bible College she attended. More than 300 people have donated more than $34,600 to a churchsponsored GoFundMe campaign to help pay for funeral and other expenses.
Her father, Scott Blackburn, rushed back from Peru and then travelled to the U.S. with Collins to bring back his daughter’s body. Her funeral is planned for Tuesday in Barrie, Ont., where she grew up. Heritage College is sending a busload of mourners.
Her parents have been overwhelmed with support. “I don’t know what to say. We are just so, so thankful,” Scott Blackburn said.
They are only now learning details about the life their daughter built here, after she came home from Peru two years ago.
When not at school, Blackburn worked part-time at Mr. Sub and Starbucks. She wrote engagingly about her deep Christian faith and about everything else — movies, television, airports, bikinis, her bucket list — in an online blog.
Her family is relying on the faith they shared with her. “I hold out that hope that I will just spend eternity with her,” Scott Blackburn said.
Blackburn and Collins planned to marry in Peru and move there when she finished school, to continue with missionary work at the orphanage.
Her funeral takes place at noon at the Emmanuel Baptist Church , 374 Salem Rd. in Barrie. Friends and family will be received from 10 a.m.
Blackburn’s funeral will be livestreamed on the church’s Facebook page. A private family interment will be held later.