Production Credits

Fierce Goodbye: Living in the Shadow of Suicide is a production of Mennonite Media, in partnership with Faith & Values Media. Fierce Goodbye is available (July, 2004) on video (VHS and DVD) from Mennonite Media and other distributors.

• Burton Buller, executive producer.
  Buller is the director of Mennonite Media. He was formerly the director of Family Life Communications, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and founded two video/film production companies. He has produced such films such as The Amish and The Hutterites earning numerous CINE golden Eagle awards for his work.

• Wayne Gehman, assistant producer and editor.
  Gehman is a photographer who worked formerly for the Daily News Record in Harrisonburg, Va. He has been a video editor, photographer and producer at Mennonite Media since 1996.

• Jim L. Bowman, videographer.
  Bowman lives near Hershey Pa. where he operates his own video production business, Bowman & Company. Since 1974, Bowman has traveled around the world videotaping and filming images for a variety of award-winning projects and previously was news cameraman/editor for Channel 21, CBS-TV in Harrisburg. He also served major market TV stations and CNN from the Harrisburg Capitol Newsroom.

• Sheri Hartzler, associate producer.
  Hartzler has worked for Mennonite Media for 13 years in a variety of roles; she is also one of the founders of Patchwork Pantry (a local food pantry) and is booking agent for Ted & Lee TheaterWorks of Harrisonburg.

• Melodie Davis, writer.
  Davis has been a writer/producer for Mennonite Media for the past 26 years and is a syndicated columnist whose column appears in the Daily News Record and 12 other newspapers. She is the author of eight books, and editor of Valley Living and Together periodicals for Shalom Productions.

• Judy Collins, host.
  Legendary folk singer Judy Collins narrates Fierce Goodbye: Living in the Shadow of Suicide and closes the program with the heartbreaking ballad, "Wings of Angels," which she wrote about the 1992 death of her 33-year-old son by suicide. Judy recently wrote a memoir, Sanity and Grace?which chronicles her journey from the acute pain of the aftermath of suicide, to finding hope and healing.

• David Cottrell, composer.
  Emmy Award-winning composer David Cottrell has composition credits which include scores for National Geographic, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, and PBS. With his composing partner, Chris Mangum, he has composed scores for more than 200 hours of television, winning numerous awards, most recently an Emmy Award for the National Geographic Explorer segment, Stalking Leopards.  David is an Associate Professor of Music at James Madison University, where he teaches courses in the Music Industry curriculum.