Memorial Fund
Jellico
By: Natasha Lafayette
Natasha@lafollettepress.com
Anna Lowe’s birthday was Jan. 30th, her favorite color was green and she had a passion to start a Boys and Girls Club in Campbell County.
Lowe’s fellow students at Jellico Elementary chose to remember and honor her and her favorite things almost recently. They remember her graciousness, her smile and the cause she so strongly believed in.
The entire student body at JES honored Lowe by wearing green on the day of her birthday. The students also participated in a penny war, in which all of them brought in pennies to raise money for the Anna’s Smile Fund to help start a Boys and Girls Club.
According to Lowe’s friends, Elizabeth Perkins and Kendra Moses, the students have struggled with the loss of their fellow classmate. Many at the school will testify to the impact Lowe had on their lives.
The faculty and students felt that the only way to truly accept the tragedy would be to join in her cause to create a club for the youth.
Though all of the students were involved in wearing green and bringing in pennies, the eighth graders carried the bulk of the responsibility and continue to do so.
The made posters and spread awareness to other classes of the planned event. They counted pennies to the point that Ryan Lay said they were dreaming of pennies.
The students went beyond the classroom in spreading awareness about the penny wars. They hit the pavement talking to local business owners in the area about starting their own fund raisers.
Lowe’s birthday was filled with memories of her loving and carefree nature. The way she constantly smiled and made others laugh and feel loved was the trait most remembered by her classmates.
Green was her favorite color and so the students wore green in her honor. Alex Garcia, said that anyone in the school that day could not walk two feet without seeing green.
It came and went in waves, similar to the joy that Lowe shared with everyone she encountered, the students were united in the way they honored her.
Out of 300 in the school, about 252 students and faculty were wearing green on Lowe’s birthday.
“It meant a lot for her home room to raise a lot of money,” said Megan Walp.
Eighth graders brought in pennies in bulk quantities, duffel bags and briefcases overloaded with one-cent coins.
“She would be really happy, she was always happy,” said Garcia.
Lowe began the school year last fall after spending the summer with her grandparents in Elk Valley. She had gone to Bible camp with some of the students at JES, having already made friends with them.
An English practice essay was also used as a way for students to express their memories of Lowe. Three of her close friends chose Lowe to be on a postage stamp in a practice essay for the eighth grade writing assessment test. Perkins, Moses and Tiffany Bruce chose Lowe because of her smile, personality and her dream of having a Boys and Girls Club in Jellico.
Whether a student knew her on a personal level or only passed her in the hallway and witnessed her smile, they all have a kind word to say and feel a loss of her death.
That is why kindergarten through the fifth grade raised close to $700 and the entire school added to the Anna’s Smile Fund about $2,600.
While Lowe will not shine her smile again to the children in Jellico, she will forever remain in their hearts as a loving friend.
They will remember her always with the club they helped form in her honor.