Thursday, April 19, 2007
One of the Virginia Tech victims
Austin Cloyd
Hometown: Blacksburg, Va.
Age: 18
Class: Freshman
Major: International Studies
Profile: All day Monday, friends left messages looking for Austin Cloyd, a freshman from Blacksburg whose father is a professor at Virginia Tech. A Facebook page was filled with notes from friends praying for her.
"Austin . . . you are so loved and I just hope that you are going to be alright," a friend wrote.
At 5:30 p.m. that day, the pastor from the family's former church in Illinois spoke with Bryan and Renee Cloyd. They still hadn't heard from their daughter.
About 24 hours after the shooting, her parents finally got word, said the Rev. Terry Harter. They were shown a photograph of one of the bodies.
They were unable to talk about Austin's death last night but sent an e-mail that ended: "The world has lost a very special person."
As word spread, friends cried, and laughed, at their memories. They talked about how much Austin Cloyd loved to act, to sing, play volleyball, read, go shopping. She was always dressed just so. A friend remembers a trip to Old Navy taking 90 minutes of careful analysis. Bailey Hampton, a 17-year-old friend from Illinois, said she was "high-maintenance, in a good way." Always put together.
She was a dean's list student in the honors program. She was striking, very tall, with pale skin and bright red curly hair, a big smile. Chris Nicosia, a freshman, remembers turning around at the Justin Timberlake concert last month and seeing her there unexpectedly, dressed in red, completely dazzling him.
"She radiated," Martha Harter said.
She remembered birthdays and wrote thank-you notes. She loved little kids. She taught 4- and 5-year-olds to swim at Tech, laughing with Nicosia about funny things the kids did -- like drinking from the pool. She was a lifeguard, too, someone who would take on extra work without a complaint, said her swimming supervisor, Katherine Frasca.
She took mission trips to Appalachia, climbing on roofs to patch them, helping to install plumbing or shore up worn-out walls.
In January, Cloyd and her mother hopped into a car one day and drove to Illinois to surprise old friends. They knocked on Harter's door one night, she said, and Austin stood on the doorstep, grinning.
She had turned from a high school student into a young lady, Harter said. She couldn't believe it. Harter burst out, "You're so beautiful! You're so grown up -- I can't take it!"
Her birthday is next week. Was next week. -- Susan Kinzie, The Washington Post
Hometown: Blacksburg, Va.
Age: 18
Class: Freshman
Major: International Studies
Profile: All day Monday, friends left messages looking for Austin Cloyd, a freshman from Blacksburg whose father is a professor at Virginia Tech. A Facebook page was filled with notes from friends praying for her.
"Austin . . . you are so loved and I just hope that you are going to be alright," a friend wrote.
At 5:30 p.m. that day, the pastor from the family's former church in Illinois spoke with Bryan and Renee Cloyd. They still hadn't heard from their daughter.
About 24 hours after the shooting, her parents finally got word, said the Rev. Terry Harter. They were shown a photograph of one of the bodies.
They were unable to talk about Austin's death last night but sent an e-mail that ended: "The world has lost a very special person."
As word spread, friends cried, and laughed, at their memories. They talked about how much Austin Cloyd loved to act, to sing, play volleyball, read, go shopping. She was always dressed just so. A friend remembers a trip to Old Navy taking 90 minutes of careful analysis. Bailey Hampton, a 17-year-old friend from Illinois, said she was "high-maintenance, in a good way." Always put together.
She was a dean's list student in the honors program. She was striking, very tall, with pale skin and bright red curly hair, a big smile. Chris Nicosia, a freshman, remembers turning around at the Justin Timberlake concert last month and seeing her there unexpectedly, dressed in red, completely dazzling him.
"She radiated," Martha Harter said.
She remembered birthdays and wrote thank-you notes. She loved little kids. She taught 4- and 5-year-olds to swim at Tech, laughing with Nicosia about funny things the kids did -- like drinking from the pool. She was a lifeguard, too, someone who would take on extra work without a complaint, said her swimming supervisor, Katherine Frasca.
She took mission trips to Appalachia, climbing on roofs to patch them, helping to install plumbing or shore up worn-out walls.
In January, Cloyd and her mother hopped into a car one day and drove to Illinois to surprise old friends. They knocked on Harter's door one night, she said, and Austin stood on the doorstep, grinning.
She had turned from a high school student into a young lady, Harter said. She couldn't believe it. Harter burst out, "You're so beautiful! You're so grown up -- I can't take it!"
Her birthday is next week. Was next week. -- Susan Kinzie, The Washington Post
# posted by David and Aleecia @ 3:56 PM 
