Saturday, October 17, 2009
With the quiet flutter of five doves into the crisp afternoon sky, followed by the release of hundreds of balloons, J.H. Hines Elementary School staff and students said a formal good-bye to little Princanna Strain.
Strain, 5, died Oct. 7 when a large, wheeled cabinet she and some other students were playing in toppled onto her.
The kindergartner’s funeral was Friday, and a small contingent from her school attended the service. The remainder of the Hines staff and students held their own service for Strain on the G. L. Wiley Middle School campus lawn. Hines classes are being held on the Wiley campus this year while Hines is being rebuilt.
With few words, five white doves were released in Strain’s honor. Then Strain’s classmates unclenched their small hands, freeing a small number of pink balloons to meander into the sky. The rest of the student body followed suit, sending a wave of white balloons skyward on a southbound wind. All the balloons carried small tags, messages that had been written to Princanna.
“I’ll miss you,” one small pink tag read, accompanied by a crayon flower and little girl playing outside.
Some students wore T-shirts commemorating Strain, a little girl who was small for her age but would have turned 6 years old this coming Tuesday.
Counselors remained at the Wiley campus through last week and as needed this week. Throughout the school, teachers did activities with students that would give them an opportunity to express their grief over Princanna’s death and help counselors identify which students may need more counseling.
Hines Principal Archie Hatten said small group-counseling sessions have been set up for the students from Princanna’s class, specifically.
Across the district, staff have been looking for any cabinets similar to that which flipped onto Princanna. Dale Caffey, spokesman for the district, said 16 have been found and pulled from buildings so far, and staff members are looking for more.
wgragg@wacotrib.com
757-6901
Comments
By zbrown
Oct 17, 2009 3:49 PM | Link to this
Princanna is going to be missed dearly. I have been around her a few times because i am married in the family of hers. My prayers goes out to the entire family and her memories is whats keeping her alive. We all now see that we have another angle in the heavens watching over us all. She wants us to be strong and live our lives properly so that one day we will reunite with our lovely Pricanna.
By vivian Savage
Oct 17, 2009 2:43 PM | Link to this
I fell that an memorial should be set up in Princanna honor Also what did her mother being incarcerated have anything to do with her death. The grandmother was her guardian , the public did not need to know her family history.all that her family went though was enough.somewhere in your hearts need an apology to come out to the family ,friends and our community.
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