Hundreds of students, teachers and parents gathered Wednesday night outside Sprayberry High School to say goodbye to one classmate and pray for another's recovery.
Holding candles and wiping tears, the group sang songs and shared stories to honor 17-year-old Leticia Carmo, who was killed Sunday morning in the deadly Florida highway crashes, and her 15-year-old sister, Lidiane, who survived.
"They were as beautiful on the inside as they were on the outside," Debbie Fowler, a cosmetology teacher at the Cobb County school, told the AJC.
Leticia, an 11th-grader at Sprayberry, was part of a group of 15 from her tiny Marietta church that was returning home after a three-day religious conference in Orlando at the time of the crash on I-75 near Gainesville. Leticia's parents, uncle and her uncle's girlfriend also died.
Fowler said Leticia had been her student in cosmetology class for nearly two years and was excited to learn to cut hair. Her teacher, however, was a little worried.
"She was so giddy," Fowler said. "I told her, ‘You've got to calm down so you can cut a straight line.'"
Classmates and teachers at the school remembered Leticia for her kind heart and love of her church and God.
"She told everyone, ‘God has plan for me,'" Fowler said.
Hannah Frary, a senior at Sprayberry, said she had been to the Carmo's church with Leticia, and that her friend had asked her to go with her to the weekend conference in Florida. Frary said she couldn't go because she didn't want to miss school.
Now, she misses her friend terribly, and is hopeful Lidiane makes a full recovery.
"Every time she saw me, she always gave me a hug," Frary said. "She genuinely cared about everyone."
Lidiane Carmo, the only survivor in her immediate family, is in ninth grade at Sprayberry. She remained hospitalized Wednesday night in Florida but is expected to recover from her injuries, church members have said.
Lidiane suffered broken bones and internal injuries that required surgery and is expected to be hospitalized for at least another week.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian church where the Carmo family was heavily involved has asked for help with expenses related to the five deaths. Contributions can be made to the Carmo Family Funeral Fund at any Bank of America.
The church hopes to hold a memorial service in Cobb County for the victims before sending the bodies back to Brazil for burial.
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