Family, friends mourn student's death

Band class on Monday at Fort Osage High School was different from all others.

Erica Gregory, the band director, did not know what to do. She had no plan for the class.

It was the first time Jessica Coppock, a band member, and her classmates saw their teacher not have a plan for the class.

“She (Gregory) is always the one with all the answers,” Coppock said, “but no one has the answers for this. No one can explain exactly what happened.”

The band started playing. They didn’t know what else to do.

“But it felt like something was missing today,” Coppock said.

Laura Beth Reynolds was missing.

Reynolds, a junior clarinet player, died Saturday night in an automobile crash on U.S. 24 in eastern Independence. She was 16 years old.

“You just never know how special or important something is until it’s not there anymore. But I know she was there. I know she’s always going to be a part of our band.”

On Monday, hundreds gathered inside East Side Baptist Church in Independence to remember Laura. The church, in conjunction with the high school, held a candlelight vigil that included prayer, candles, memories and the color yellow.

It was Laura’s favorite color.

“Yellow is a bright and cheery color,” said Coppock, one of numerous friends who spoke to the audience about their favorite memory of Laura. “It reflects not only her favorite color but also her personality. You guys look so beautiful out there in your yellow.”

Students at the vigil wore yellow shirts. Students after the vigil released yellow balloons in the night sky.

Earlier that day at school, more than 500 students gathered in the school gym, all wearing yellow, said high school principal Jason Snodgrass,who spoke at the vigil.

  Although he did not know Laura personally, “that sparkle in her eye and that smile” caught his eye.

“What a testament to her life,” Snodgrass said of assembly and the vigil.

Laura never had a bad word to say about anybody, friends said, and nobody could dislike her.

The Rev. Fred Young, pastor at East Side Baptist Church, said he was called to Reynolds’ home the night of the accident. The family are members of the church.

The family declined to talk publicly about the accident.

“I think they’re doing remarkably well,” Young said, “but I also believe they have a good, strong family who love each other and a good support system of friends too.”

Young shared good news at the vigil where sounds of sobbing echoed through the church.

“Laura was prepared for death,” Young said. “As her pastor I am here to tell you she had faith. At this very moment, we believe with all of our being that Laura is with our Lord.”