I just read your article about your cousin Courtney. I lost my daughter Morgan to heroin in December 2008. She was 22.
Before that, whenever I would hear or read about a death of a much-too-young person, I would wonder how the parents must feel. How do they deal with tragedy so deeply sad? I no longer wonder. It takes you into the depths of despair so foreign, it defies description. Six rehabs only gave us hope that she, too, would get clean and stay that way. How did this happen? She was beautiful, an athlete, popular, funny. She was a four-year varsity starter on Manalapan High School’s soccer team, and was a co-captain two of those years. My wife and I still cannot figure out what went wrong. Her two brothers are fine — no problems. It is an unsolved mystery I will take to my grave.
I do not know what your aunt and uncle will do, but this is what we have done. We could not let it end this way. So we established a scholarship in her name — a very modest $1,000 awarded to a graduating female soccer player from Manalapan High School who is going on to college. The coaches and faculty choose the candidate. We have presented five so far. We finance it with fundraisers. It does nothing to ease the sadness, but it is nice to keep her memory alive outside of our home. The Manalapan Soccer Club, which Morgan played for also for 12 years, presents a scholarship in her name.
Your testimony of Courtney speaks volumes about how your family felt about her. Maybe what we have done can trigger an idea as to how you can keep her memory alive. Visit our website, mbmsgoals.org, to see what we have done.
Kevin Ball
Englishtown