RUPTURED BLOOD VESSEL TAKES LIFE OF 14-YEAR-OLD

Summary:

Family and friends learning to cope with death of Jackson girl.

JACKSON -- Lindsey Reedy was the teen-ager everybody knew, and for all the right reasons.

But now her family, friends, classmates at R.O. Hawkins Junior High School and members of her church are trying to cope with her death.

Lindsey, 14, of Jackson died Monday at Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Chapel in Jackson.

She died of a ruptured blood vessel in her brain, said Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Carpenter. An autopsy was performed by the St. Louis medical examiner's office.

Students who want to attend the funeral will be excused from classes, said Dennis Parham, principal at the school. Lindsey was in the ninth grade.

"The hardest part of this is that we're going to miss her, and as much as we are hurting, life goes on," said Edna Estes. "She's just not going to be a part of it."

Estes is a teacher at the junior high school and member of Shawnee Hills Baptist Church, to which Lindsey belonged. She has known Lindsey since she was a small child.

"She always made good grades," said Estes. "Everybody knew her, but for the right reasons. She had a lot of friends."

During the last two days, school officials have tried to help friends and classmates deal with her death by offering counseling, Estes said. Students were told of her death Tuesday morning. Many teachers knew Monday evening.

"They were upset and there were a lot of tears," she said. Extra counselors were available to talk with students and also will be available at the school today.

The easiest way to handle the death has been to be honest, Estes said. "We talked about it openly, if they wanted to talk. We took the pressure off and gave them a chance to come to grips with it."

Accepting death is particularly hard when it is a young person, but Gabe Estes, 17, said many youths at the church are handling it well.

"Obviously it was done for a reason," he said. "Right now we are just praying for her family and friends."

He said Lindsey was active in youth meetings at the church and served on a youth council. "You could definitely count on her if you needed to."

Lindsey was the kind of person who could bring people together, said her brother James, 18. "She said she wanted to be like Princess Diana and help people. When her friends had hard times, she would stand by them."