About Emily

There are people who light up a room without even trying. Emily was one of them.

She was silly and funny and knew exactly how to turn a hard day around just by showing up. She had a gift for finding the humor in things, for making the people she loved laugh when they needed it most, and for making everyone around her feel like they mattered. Because to her, they did.

A Daughter. A Sister. A Teammate.

Emily was, by her own cheerful admission, a daddy’s girl through and through — still letting him order for her at restaurants, and perfectly happy about it. She and her mom had their own kind of magic too, the kind that included seeing just how dirty she could get her softball uniform before her mom noticed.

Softball was her sport and her team was her people. She showed up for them the way she showed up for everyone; fully, and with her whole heart.

She was a sister, a friend, and a member of a community that loved her deeply and feels her absence every single day.

Her Faith

Emily was a young woman of deep faith. She believed in God and led her life the way her faith called her to with love, compassion, and with a genuine desire to help people around her. She is at peace. Her family holds onto that, and so do we.

Who She Was When No One Was Watching

She danced. She sang. She made TikToks with her friends. She was so wonderfully, completely a teenager.

She had a soft spot for animals and little kids, and a natural ability to connect with people who needed a little extra support. She was patient and kind and good in ways that never felt performed. It was just who she was.

She was also planning a future. She wanted to study radiology, to be the kind of person in a hospital who made a hard moment feel a little more human. It would have suited her perfectly.

Her Legacy

Emily didn’t get the future she deserved. But the love she put into the world didn’t go anywhere.

It lives in her family. In her friends. In the people who are alive today because of the courageous choice her family made in the hardest moment of their lives. And it lives in this foundation, which exists to carry forward everything she was. Joyful. Compassionate. Generous. Full of light.