First Friday Feature: Legacies

s
Some of our dear friends from KS, Dave and Kathy Barkes, who also have a daughter in Heaven, honored her memory by helping her friends establish a foundation. You can read Jamie Barkes Pursley's story, order her book, and find out about the wonderful things her Jamie's Wish Foundation has done  at www.jamieswish.org. Jamie and our Stacie were six months apart in age, and I talk a little about Jamie in the book I wrote about Stacie, "I Will Not Fear: A Chosen Life."

I recently visited the newly expanded library at New Dimensions Charter School in Morganton, NC, where Stacie was the Exceptional Children's Coordinator for many years. Because of her love for her students, and due to her love of books, gained from growing up at Silver Lake Library where I was the director for over a decade, when Stacie followed Jamie to Heaven, we designated her memorial to the school library. At that time it was housed in half a classroom with mostly donated books. Thanks to those who gave to the memorial, the matching grant from Modern Woodman, and the support of the school since then, the library has grown into a spacious area full of books and all things media. The new librarian this year is Stacie's former "right-hand woman" and dear friend, and also one of our "adopted" daughters, Jennifier Auton. (She and her daughter, Jenna, were the inspiration for two characters in Book II of my Tresia series, which is available for check out in the NDS library!) 

Jenn gave me a tour of the new library and the school. I was amazed at how they have grown over the past six years, and was brought to tears when I stepped outside the library door. In the hall by the library entrance hangs a large photo of Stacie wearing the same favorite hat she wore in her last school staff photo. Beside it is a plaque that reads, "Library Dedicated to Stacie McPhail." Thank you, NDS and Jenn, for honoring in such a beautiful way, Stacie's love for her "kids," her school, and a library full of books.