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Tinsel and Tutus @ Reynolds Performance Hall — 12/12/13
12/12 — The Conway Symphony Orchestra entertained with Christmas music, including highlights from The Nutcracker performed by the Arkansas Festival Ballet.
Mark Wiedmer
One by one they filed out of Woodmore Elementary School nine days ago, three dozen examples of our nation's future blessedly, if somewhat unexpectedly, framed by bright smiles and twinkling eyes.
Then again, shiny new bicycles and packages wrapped in pretty red and green paper will improve any kid's day, especially during the holidays.
Yet the adults who led or followed these young folks most often flashed forced smiles. Fake smiles. Fragile smiles, as if their demeanor could shatter into a thousand tear-stained pieces at any moment.
A school bus crash that shockingly and sickeningly takes the lives of six bright, beautiful adolescents will do that to the adults who love, nurture and guide those left behind.
Perhaps that's why, when they were asked to talk about all these gifts so generously handed out by the Brainerd Kiwanis Club - an idea hatched and first executed 10 years ago rather than in the wake of the crash - every parent declined.
And who could blame them? Those 25 days that separated them that afternoon could grow to 25 weeks, 25 months, 25 years and they might still want no part of reliving it with a total stranger. It is horror enough what their own minds put them through.
Later, when asked if any of those gifts went to the families of those lost or injured that awful Nov. 21 afternoon, Brainerd Kiwanis president Yousef Hanadeh replied, "I don't think we should comment on that."
So he didn't, other than to say, "(The tragedy) brought (Brainerd) closer for sure."
There is close good and close bad at times like this.
Woodmore principal Brenda Cothran was the assistant principal at Ooltewah Elementary this time last year. When she arrived at Woodmore she immediately set out to hammer home a theme of success in every aspect of the school. That theme centered on three words: support, create and enrich.
A single example of how it was working: Two days before the crash, Cothran's Woodmore Way Work days brought at least 20 adults to the campus to clean up the grounds, spread mulch, paint and attempt to reclaim the school's stage for, in Cothran's words, "musicals, student-led performances and movement."
But then the wreck devastated both the school and the entire Chattanooga community as Cothran was wrapping up her duties on the car rider line. She sent assistant principal Talley Caldwell to the crash site, then followed soon after, both of them remaining there for several hours.
And the stress, sorrow and senselessness of this nightmare continues to leave a mark.
When a reporter wondered this past week if Christmas would be different for this year, Cothran said she wasn't yet ready to answer that - that "it's too close to the bone."
As 2016 limps to a close we probably all are bone weary from stress, hurt, disappointment and colossal tragedy. Whether it be Woodmore, the Gatlinburg fires, 50 killed in an Orlando night club, the Zika virus, a presidential election that surely set new lows for truth, decency and respect, we're in desperate need of finding enough hope somewhere to halt the horror of that November afternoon on Talley Road.
Then Cothran sent a Saturday afternoon email, detailing a few of the amazing acts of kindness that she and so many of the victims' families have witnessed since the crash.
There were the hand-carved crosses that were given to each of the victims' families, though the gentleman who carved them asked to remain anonymous. There were the letters from all across the country with messages, according to Cothran, that "were heartfelt and lifted our spirits." In addition, UTC sent tickets to its basketball games, motorcyclists delivered mountains of teddy bears and Cothran's entire staff has been fed lunch every day since the accident occurred thanks to the generosity of numerous schools, churches and civic groups.
And not only did people provide meals, the principal noted, "but they stayed for two to four hours to serve and clean up afterwards."
Beyond that, a friend of Cothran's set up a meal train so that her own family could be fed in the evenings. A personal favorite, according to the email: "The Ooltewah Middle School choir performed and the Soddy Elementary School choir led our school in a holiday sing-a-long. Seeing students from Soddy Elementary and Woodmore Elementary sing together will forever be with me. It was a beautiful sight and an incredible experience for all who participated."
All of these thoughts led Cothran to reconsider how the tragedy had altered this Christmas for her.
"First," she wrote, "I have more people to pray for - specifically parents, siblings, grandparents and family members who lost children and are facing their first Christmas without them. Second, I have more to be thankful for - God's grace saw us through the school days & celebrations of life that followed and His grace will continue to carry us in the days to come."
And may our concern, kindness and charity toward both Woodmore Elementary and the Woodmore community remain close to our bones long past the holidays.
For as the lyrics to the holiday classic "The Secret of Christmas" suggest: "It's not the things you do at Christmas time, but the Christmas things you do all year through."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com