Media Relations, Adair County Schools
This community lost two bright young ladies Friday when ACHS sophomores Abby Curry and Macie Drake, both 15, passed away in a tragic accident. As Adair County continues to mourn the untimely loss, friends and educators reflect on their fondest memories of the two girls, and wish to share their recollections with the community, ensuring that their legacy will live on through those that knew them best.
Abby G. Curry: Feb. 5, 2001 – Oct. 28, 2016
Quiet, kind, smart, and friendly. Those are the most common words used to describe Abby Curry. She was sociable without being loud and popular without making herself the center of attention. A former cheerleader, her joyful disposition carried over into every aspect of her life and rubbed off on friends and family.
“Her smile and laugh, it was one of a kind,” says Courtney Bernard, a close friend of both Curry and Drake. “It’s hard knowing I won’t see her coming into my third period class just to talk to me for a minute, and not seeing her name come across my phone anymore.”
Page Ford, Abby’s cousin and neighbor, and one of Macie’s closest friends, says Abby was one of the most pleasant people she had ever known. “She was such a happy, spirited person,” Ford says. “Even people who didn’t know her well know that.”
Her teachers say Curry was a bright, attentive student with a gift for writing. “Abby was one of the first smiling faces to greet me each morning,” says Victoria Leibeck, Curry’s first period English teacher. “She was such a sweet, articulate, kind young lady. She was a good friend to those who knew her best, and although she was often quiet and reserved around me, her personality shone through her writing.”
Macie R. Drake: May 11, 2001 – Oct. 28, 2016
Macie Drake never met a stranger. She had a gift for making friends and great ambitions for her future. Her loss leaves a void that friends and classmates will struggle to fill.
“It’s hard to imagine that I won’t ever get to talk to her or see her again,” Ford says. “We’ve been friends for a long time and talked every single day.”
Drake’s health sciences teacher, Jennifer Carter, says Drake was a popular student whose genial personality was contagious. “She loved people and was always smiling, always positive,” Carter says. “She was the kind of girl that got along with everybody. I never saw her when she wasn’t happy.”
Carter shows a paper Drake wrote at the beginning of the school year, in which she writes about her desire to help people – one of her true passions – and her dreams of becoming a dermatologist. “You can just tell how positive her outlook is by reading it,” Carter says. “She saw the good in everything.”
One of the lines in Macie’s paper stands out among the others. She wrote it, but it sounds a lot like the descriptions her friends and teacher shared: “I am a very kind and caring person, a little loud sometimes. I love helping others and making them happy.”
“She was loved by a whole lot of people—they both were,” Ford says. “I already miss them so much.”