Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > July > 15
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Daughter may be gone, but memory lives on
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Erica Paige Whitney, 10, died last Sunday in a car accident. Erica and her family were returning from Myrtle Beach.
She enjoyed being the center of attention. Loved to entertain.
At home, her stage was beneath the fireplace mantel. Erica Paige Whitney amused the family with a little song, dance, something.
It’s what you’d expect from someone who had a flair for drama, who aspired to be an actress.
Or a scientist.
“She couldn’t decide,” said her mom, Wendy Stoner.
Understandable. She was only 10.
She earned As and Bs at Mountain Park Elementary School. She read voraciously, sang robustly in the school choir, and stayed active — soccer, softball, basketball, gymnastics, cheerleading, horseback riding and the Girl Scouts.
She had a soft spot for animals, notably horses. You’ve seen the billboards around town that say “We Buy Ugly Houses,” right? Erica initially wondered how someone could say such a cruel thing. She thought it said “horses.”
I learned this and more at Erica’s funeral on Friday. She died a week ago today in a car wreck just south of Augusta. She and her family were returning to Lilburn from Myrtle Beach. Erica had to be airlifted by helicopter to a hospital. She died in flight.
Other family members were injured in the accident, but her sisters Gracie, 7, and Emma, 2, survived.
In my profession, we occasionally try to craft stories so significant details or events are alluded to early on, but not conveyed in great depth until later. It’s called foreshadowing. It creates suspense, intrigue, hope.
The day before Erica died, she, her mom and sister Gracie were standing in line at an amusement park in Myrtle Beach. Erica asked about her ailing grandmother, who recently had been released from the hospital. Talk turned to death. Erica asked her mother why people tend to be sad at funerals when they ought to be happy because the loved one has gone to heaven.
“The next day, she was there,” Stoner said. “That conversation was something God gave me and Gracie to help us through this.”
Classmates and friends attended the celebration of Erica’s life at Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville. The Girl Scouts joined their leader, Annette Miranda, at the podium to sing one of Erica’s favorite songs: “Make New Friends.”
In her eulogy, Miranda raised an issue that’s always stuck in my craw. She questioned the often-quoted explanation some mourners fall back on when a young person dies. It’s God’s will, they reason.
“I don’t believe it,” Miranda said. “Sometimes tragic things just happen to beautiful people.”
How true.
John Baker, the assistant pastor, must have read my mind. He talked about the joyous lives of children — their innocence, honesty, uniqueness and uncluttered way of viewing things. He also questioned the heart and soul of people who dislike kids.
“Something is wrong with you,” he said. “You need to go see somebody.”
Well put.
Baker closed by addressing the grieving. How does one cope with the loss of a little girl whose world was a stage?
“We can be angry that she’s not here or grateful that she was here at all,” he said. “We can say, ‘God, thank you for Erica. That was not very long, but it was unbelievable. … She will be missed, but she will never be forgotten.’”
