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April 22, 2004
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April 22, 2004 |
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Friends remember Arla Smith (back)
A young woman who treated everyone with kindness. A young woman who loved life and people, especially her family and friends. A young woman who loved to eat (almost anything), who loved animals (especially stray cats) and who loved to dance the night away. A young woman with a clear vision of her future, which was just about to begin. These are some of the ways family and friends of Arla Smith remembered the 17-year-old senior at Yellow Springs High School this week. The young woman died last Friday, in a car accident on East Enon Road. “She was a little girl with a wonderful glow around her who could always make you smile,” said Shirley Martin, a lifelong family friend, mother of one of Arla’s close friends and her volleyball coach. Although she was a tiny person who never gained weight no matter how much she ate, Arla was remembered by friends on Monday as a rock of support. “If I ever had a problem I could call and talk to her,” said YSHS sophomore Brittany Butler, who grew up with Arla in the Central Chapel AME church. “Even though she was so small and skinny, she was powerful.” Arla grew up in the closeknit neighborhood of Omar Circle, where her mother, Tammy, also grew up. Arla and her mother lived several doors down from her grandparents, Frances and Shelbert Smith. While her mother worked, Arla often spent time with her grandparents and seemed very attentive to their needs, neighbor and family friend Jackie Childs said. “We watched her grow up,” said Childs. “Everyday we saw her walking back and forth on the way to school.” What neighbors saw was a skinny little girl who grew into a lovely young woman, a girl who seemed always happy, cheerful and uncommonly kind. “You could call up 100 people and not find anyone with something bad to say about her,” said neighbor and family friend Theresa Wagner. Even as a young child Arla loved animals and developed a habit of luring stray cats into her home. That love turned into a desire to become a veterinarian, a goal she clung to with fervor, said two longtime friends, Katie Lovering and Heather Wagers. “She was the only one of our friends who always knew what she wanted to be,” said Katie. “And she never changed her mind.” Arla loved writing and drawing as a child, Wagner said. She was a good student and musician, playing her flute each month on Youth Sunday at Central Chapel, which she, her mother and grandparents all attended every Sunday. Each summer, she took part in the church’s Vacation Bible School. In high school Arla pursued a wide range of interests, including volleyball, softball and cheerleading. The tiniest member of the cheerleading squad, Arla was the group’s “flyer,” the “little person who was always on the top,” said Lisa Crosswhite, the cheerleader advisor. “This year she was so good,” Crosswhite said. “She was fearless.” Cheerleading also sparked Arla’s creativity, and this year she choreographed two dances for the squad to perform during halftimes at basketball games, said Crosswhite, who described the dances as “wonderful.” But most of all, Crosswhite appreciated Arla for her dependability and loyalty to the squad. “She was the one I could always call on and count on,” Crosswhite said. “She was my right-hand girl.” In school Arla also took part in orchestra, in which she played the flute. Yellow Springs Superintendent Tony Armocida recalled often noticing Arla’s mother standing out on the gym floor taking a picture of her daughter when Arla performed with the orchestra. “She always seemed so proud,” said Armocida of Tammy Smith. Arla also participated in the YSHS United Society, a group that seeks to celebrate diversity and promote understanding between different cultures. Such an activity would seem to come naturally to Arla, who was remembered by many for her ability to get along with everyone and her desire to create harmony between people. “She was the peacemaker,” said Crosswhite. Among her good friends, Arla was remembered this week for her cheerfulness, her humor and her desire to help others. Nothing that someone needed seemed too big for her, said YSHS senior Dana Ingham. “Even if it seemed impossible, she would still try,” Dana said. Arla’s loyalty to family and friends figured into her decision to stay home and not attend the senior class trip to New York City, which would have taken her out of town last Friday. The death last Wednesday of family friend Bryon Stubblefield had shaken her and she wanted to be close to home, people said. She also wanted to finish a group biology project rather than leave her friends to finish the work, said Dana, noting that she and Arla stayed up all Thursday night finishing the project. But as well as being loyal and caring, Arla was lots of fun, said longtime friend and YSHS senior Janell Martin, who remembered last year’s prom when, shortly after hearing music begin, Arla “kicked her shoes across the floor and danced the whole night. She was a party girl.” Arla also had a legendary appetite. “She loved to eat. She ate constantly. There was very little that she didn’t like,” said Dana. Arla’s senior year was drawing to a close, and she was looking forward to a road trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., after school ended with her close friends, said Heather Wagers. Arla’s future looked bright in other ways as well, and she had been accepted into Bennett College in North Carolina, her grandmother’s alma mater, where she planned to pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. Arla had recently explored her interest in veterinary medicine by shadowing several vets at Docton Animal Clinic in Xenia, said Dr. Coryn Vickrey, who worked with Arla. Each Monday after school for five weeks, Arla spent several hours observing the vets and their work. The experience only deepened her interest in the field, said Vickrey. “She was a really bright girl and was [set] on becoming a vet,” Vickrey said. “She had a wonderful drive. Nothing would stop her.”
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