2008 Woodie Awards
Families honor '05 fire victims
Kellyn Moran
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Front Page
For most Miami University students, Thursday was an ordinary day. For the family and friends of three former students, the day marked three years after an off-campus house fire took their daughters, son and friends.
Although the fire deeply affected the community and moved the university to dedicate a memorial for the students, no one on campus will remember firsthand the events of April 10, 2005 after the seniors graduate this spring. And with this passage of time, the friends and family of Julie Turnbull, Stephen Smith and Kate Welling hope that students don't forget.
There are the physical mementos created in memory of the students-a rock outside of King Library with all three students' names on it, a bench for Kate near King Library and one for Julie near Minnich Hall, where the Pi Beta Phi sorority suite is located-and scholarships or lecture series in their names. But only the emotion in the voices of those who were close to Julie, Stephen and Kate can capture the impact they made on other others' lives.
"Julie was the life of the party and she had a smile that was just contagious and her personality-you wanted to be with her every minute of the day," said Miami alumna Brianne Petricone.
Stephen's mother echoed the same sentiments about her son.
"Stephen was-oh God-really smart and a good student and he was self-motived … he really wanted to be successful," Edye Smith said. "And he just couldn't help but do well because he just had some innate smartness, (and) the guy was so handsome."
Katy Southard, Miami alumna and Kate's friend, said Kate was extremely humble and caring.
"She would want people to hear her story and learn from what happened to her so that it doesn't happen to anyone else," said Southard, via e-mail.
Southard said students have the ability to learn from what happened.
"I know it's hard to relate to something like this and it seems irrelevant to your life, but learn from what happened to Kate," she said.
Although the fire deeply affected the community and moved the university to dedicate a memorial for the students, no one on campus will remember firsthand the events of April 10, 2005 after the seniors graduate this spring. And with this passage of time, the friends and family of Julie Turnbull, Stephen Smith and Kate Welling hope that students don't forget.
There are the physical mementos created in memory of the students-a rock outside of King Library with all three students' names on it, a bench for Kate near King Library and one for Julie near Minnich Hall, where the Pi Beta Phi sorority suite is located-and scholarships or lecture series in their names. But only the emotion in the voices of those who were close to Julie, Stephen and Kate can capture the impact they made on other others' lives.
"Julie was the life of the party and she had a smile that was just contagious and her personality-you wanted to be with her every minute of the day," said Miami alumna Brianne Petricone.
Stephen's mother echoed the same sentiments about her son.
"Stephen was-oh God-really smart and a good student and he was self-motived … he really wanted to be successful," Edye Smith said. "And he just couldn't help but do well because he just had some innate smartness, (and) the guy was so handsome."
Katy Southard, Miami alumna and Kate's friend, said Kate was extremely humble and caring.
"She would want people to hear her story and learn from what happened to her so that it doesn't happen to anyone else," said Southard, via e-mail.
Southard said students have the ability to learn from what happened.
"I know it's hard to relate to something like this and it seems irrelevant to your life, but learn from what happened to Kate," she said.
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