In her UNC application essay, Lillian Chason wrote that she wanted to teach her peers about loss.
After 10 weeks of knowing Chason, her friends and professors learned that lesson through a story more tragic than her progressive loss of eyesight.
A crowd of about 75 students, professors and family gathered in Gerrard Hall on Saturday to share memories, photographs and the college essay of Chason, who died Dec. 16 at UNC Hospitals from complications doctors suspect to have originated with H1N1.
-Visit prayersforlillianfund.chipin.com to donate to the Prayers for Lillian Fund.
-There, you can view comments and make a secure donation to the fund after clicking on the orange “ChipIn” box.
-The funds will be donated to foundations chosen by the Chason family.
For many, the memorial provided a forum to express their sorrow for Chason’s death, which occurred after much of the student body had returned home for winter break.
“Several weeks passed before we were together,” said freshman Zealan Hoover, a close friend of Chason’s, in an interview. “It was nice to come together as a group for the first time since she passed away. It provided closure, but as her dad said, we didn’t want to close her out. For all of us, she will forever be a part of this school.”
Along with reading prayers, passages and a poem written by Chason’s mother, Cate Chason, friends shared their most poignant memories of Chason’s kindness and passion for life.
Mark Perry, a dramatic art professor and author of the play “A New Dress for Mona,” in which Chason was to play the lead role, recounted Chason’s unflagging resolve to overcome her deteriorating eyesight while auditioning.
“It’s not that she would avoid the subject, she just wouldn’t use it as an excuse for anything,” he said in an interview. “We asked her to read a section from the script, and she said she would have to come back tomorrow for that. It was because she would have to blow (the script font) up to be able to read it. She was a trooper.”
