Missionaries die in separate incidents

A community is mourning the death of an LDS missionary as her husband continues to improve in an Ohio hospital.Elder Randall and Sister Karen Ann Deschamps were involved in a car crash Tuesday near Kirtland, Ohio, according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Karen Deschamps, 60, was killed and Randall Deschamps, 63, was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Surrounded by his four adult children, Randall Deschamps was in stable condition Wednesday, said Marshall R. Topham, the couple's St. George LDS stake president and family spokesman."It's a vast improvement over where he was," Topham said. "I think the family is doing as well as can be expected. There's a lot of emotion associated with the loss of a mother, and the emotion associated with the hopeful recovery of their father."The Deschampses moved to St. George from the Orem area in 2000. Randall Deschamps worked as a land planner and was responsible for building two high-end housing communities near St. George, Topham said. Karen Deschamps served in several church positions, most recently working with Dixie State College students."Karen was probably one of the kindest, gentlest, sweetest people you would ever, ever meet," Topham said. "Anybody who knows her would concur with that. She lived a life of service. ... The whole community is mourning."The couple had been serving as Kirtland Historic Sites missionaries in the Ohio Cleveland Mission since October. "They left to fulfill a dream," Topham said.

The Deschampses were passengers in a car driven by another missionary couple when they were involved in a collision with another vehicle, he said. Officials have released few other details about the crash. The condition of the other missionary couple was unknown Wednesday.

According to separate Deseret News staff reports, anotherLDS missionary died over the weekend after collapsing while jogging near Birmingham, England.

Sister Lindsey Spjute, 23, of Farmington, Utah, died May 10, according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

An autopsy was not able to determine the cause of death, the church said in a statement Wednesday.