The Fairport community gathers to remember their 5 angels
By: Elizabeth Harness
Updated: August 2, 2007
Thousands attended a ceremony celebrating the lives of five Fairport teens who were killed in a tragic accident in June. Bailey Goodman, Hannah Congdon, Sara Monnat, Katie Shirley and Meredith McClure were headed to Keuka Lake when they crashed into a semi in East Bloomfield. Just days earlier, all five had graduated from Fairport High. The Fairport community has spent the last month grieving so much over the loss of the five recent graduates. Wednesday night was a night to turn the page. Principal Dave Paddock said it best, this was a night to celebrate their lives and to help send the other students off to college with a smile on their faces. It was a night of dignitaries and even a local star paid his respects. But it was the story of friends that made people smile through their tears.
Meryl Scheible remembered her friend Hannah Congdon saying, "Both Hannah and I love the quote that Mother Teresa said: 'The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway."
Molly Kehoe talked about her friend Bailey Goodmand remembering "her enthusiasm, her joy of life, her ability to be a friend to anyone and her sense of humor will be her legacy in our minds and in our hearts.
And there was laughter too. Emily Conway says, "Sara being the fashion diva that she ways, memorized the girls shoes and told me she was bound to find her by the end of the day," remembering her friend Sara Monnat.
Charise McClure talked of her sister. "And Meridith would say can I have a double fudge sundae with extra wipped cream. She never cared about what she was eating, just as long as it was good. She was know for her joke that "i'm on a see-food diet, when I see food I eat it." For others it was remembering a cousin who was more like a sister.
Evan Monahan said, "As most siblings that had all the benfits of having a sister, someone to keep my secrets, help keep my room clean, and of course I had a playmate. We also had our share of sibling rivalry too. We're very competative, we both like to win, we both always think we're right." But one word weaved its way through everything.... angels. The most poignent moments of the night came at the end of the ceremony when Principal Paddock lead a proclamation. The hill at the high school where thousands have paid their respects this month, will be officially called "Angel Hill."
