Memorial fund will benefit teen’s favorite charities

Family and friends of Elise Haug continue to keep her memory alive

By: William Wichert
   Diana Haug isn’t ready to put away her daughter’s cell phone.
   It has been nearly three weeks since her 14-year-old daughter, Elise, died after being hit by a pickup truck on Route 616 in North Hanover, but Ms. Haug is going to hang onto the cell phone, at least for a while.
   "It still has her voice, which I still like to call and listen to," said Ms. Haug by phone on Tuesday from her home on McGuire Air Force Base.
   That voice is the same one that sung in the school choir, and consoled friends who called to talk to her about their personal problems. Elise always seemed to make her friends laugh when they were down.
   It was the voice of a girl who planned on dressing as Tinkerbell this Halloween, and who donated her own clothes to charity every month. They were the same enthusiastic sounds made by a little girl every July 4 on her birthday.
   "When she was little, she used to think the fireworks were for her celebration," her mother recalled.
   Celebrating Elise’s memory has been the focus of her family and friends at Northern Burlington County Regional High School since she died Oct. 15 at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. State police said no charges have been filed, but the accident is still under investigation.
   In the days following her death, several students transformed Elise’s locker into a shrine with poems, letters, stuffed animals, and flowers, which they later used to create a "memory box" for her parents, said Vice Principal Marie Tirrell.
   "Even kids who didn’t know her were distraught, because they didn’t get to know her," said Ms. Tirrell by phone last week.
   Elise’s teammates on the freshman field hockey team gave her a loud, rowdy cheer after their Oct. 18 victory, said Kathy Potts, the freshman coach. "That was how Elise would have been," she said. "She had a lot of energy."
   She had never been on an athletic team before, but Elise was so thrilled to be playing on the team that she forgot a few things before taking the field for the first time on Oct. 7.
   "She was so cute," Ms. Potts said. "She was so excited to go in, she forgot to take her bracelet off."
   Then Ms. Potts reminded Elise about her earrings. She forgot to leave those on the sidelines as well.
   "By the time she got on the field, she was laughing so hard," said Ms. Potts.
   When Ms. Haug saw Elise that night, covered in mud, her daughter was ecstatic about being on the team. "She did a little dance with her fingers in the air," Ms. Haug said.
   How Elise approached field hockey is pretty much how she approached most things in her life: with dedication. "She said, ‘I might not be the best player, but I’m going to give it my all,’" her mother recalled.
   Elise had traveled a great deal in her life, from her birthplace of Oklahoma City to England, Hawaii, and then McGuire in 2003, but Ms. Haug said she was just starting to blossom, joining the field hockey team and other school clubs. College was already on her mind.
   Since Elise dreamed of attending the University of Florida to study marine biology, her parents are establishing a memorial fund in her honor to raise money for local organizations benefiting endangered wildlife and impoverished children, said Ms. Haug.
   Helping others is something Elise would have wanted to do. "She was a very loyal person," her mother said, "very loving and giving."
   Donations for Elise’s fund can be sent to the Elise Michelle Haug Memorial Fund, First Command Bank, P.O. Box 901041, Fort Worth, Texas, 76101.