State Extension agent & family dies in explosion
WHITMORE LAKE, MI – Michigan investigators are trying to figure out what caused a deadly house explosion in Whitmore Lake over the weekend that killed an Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service agent. Hope Bragg, Instructor – 4-H Youth Development, and three members of family were killed in the blast, and two more people were injured.
U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman of the 4th District said in a statement, “This is devastating news. Continued prayers for the Bragg and Purden families and all their loved ones as they navigate this tragedy.”
Rep. Westerman shared a social media post from Rose Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Monticello that said, ” Tonight (Sunday) we got terrible news about the Bragg family. Hope and Don, their son Kenny and daughter Elizabeth were killed in a house explosion in Michigan at her father’s home. Their son Stephen is injured (a broken pelvis and lacerated liver) and hospitalized. Hope’s father, Mr. Purden, is in a coma. He has burns on 20 percent of his body. Please pray for the Bragg and Purden family. Please pray also for St. Mark’s Parish and for the Bragg’s friends, coworkers and classmates. Don was a professor at UAM. Hope was a County Extension Agent. This devastating loss will impact many in Drew County.”
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Last March 21st, Hempstead County 4-H hosted an Archeological Event at the Rick Evans Grandview Prairie Nature Center near Columbus led by Hope Bragg.
She asked the group what archeology was, to draw an archeologist, and list the steps they follow. She then gave the group a picture of an old house and asked the students to make inferences…Bragg followed with other activities such as sorting artifacts – by material, color. She stated that the key to scientific investigation was hypothesis and gave an example. Bragg went on to explain and demonstrate about the process of excavating and recording what was found. The group proceeded to Historic Washington where a dig was taking place, and the group were able to see different aspect of the process personally and talk with those conducting it. Excerpted from a previous HopePrescott.com article by Eric Mclaurin