Freshman remembered for ambition, humor

By Fritz Klug
Western Herald

A born writer, dedicated friend, and someone who was full of ambition and laughter is how those close to Laurie Cartwright will remember her.

Cartwright, 17, a Richland resident, was a freshman at Western Michigan University. She was an English major in the Lee Honors College. She died Friday, Nov. 13 while driving on I-94 in Jackson County when she drove into the back of a truck that was stopped on the road.

Cartwright began her studies at WMU her Freshman year of high school as part of the Academically Talented Youth Program (ATYP) program. That was when Becky Cooper, ATYP co-coordinator, first met her.

“The Thursday before the accident, she came to William Derk’s reading and afterwards, I told everyone there to remember her name – they would someday see her books on the shelves,” Cooper wrote. “Then she and I discussed working on her novel and researching the publication process for her senior thesis at the Honors college. I left that evening feeling so happy at the prospect of working with Laurie for the next few years. It’s still inconceivable that I won’t walk into class Monday and see her.”

Cartwright graduated from Gull Lake High School in 2009. A memorial service was held for her Thursday in Richland. She was a  counselor at Camp Wakeshma in Three Rivers, Mich., where she met fellow counselor Angie Barber.

“I remember how the kids looked up to her,” Barber wrote in an e-mail. “Every week she had one or two little campers that would follow her around everywhere.”

“Her smile was one of a kind and is the brightest memory I hold of her,” Barber added. “It will be impossible for anyone to fill her shoes. Even though she was younger than me I looked up to her so much.”

In high school, Cartwright played the clarinet in the marching band. According to Cooper, she wanted to pursue a career as a lawyer.

“Laurie had such a great smile and a big laugh,” Cooper wrote. “That, coupled with her insight and intelligence, is what I will remember her by. She had so much promise and a lot of light; Laurie will be missed by many.”

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Posted by heraldstaff on Nov 29 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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