…from Tina’s mother’s point of view,

It has been my privilege to be the mother of five awesome children. Anna, Tina, Stephen, Lauren, and William along with their dad, Dennis, are the loves of my life. Jesus gave each to me, and I am forever grateful for his generosity. Each are fearfully and wonderfully made by Him, our Creator, and in

His magnificent plan allowed me to play a significant role in each of their lives. I am the blessed. 

Since this is Tina’s website, I will try to focus my attention on her. The beautifully woven tapestry of our family makes it hard to single out Tina because she is knit into each of our lives in unique ways. If I do not highlight something you think worth mentioning please forgive me. My memory of our life with Tina is keen, but for lack of time and space I will try to be concise. 

Where do I begin to tell the story of a daughter, sister, niece, cousin, friend, you miss every day in many ways?  Where do you begin to describe one so dear, whose smile could warm a large room or whose hair was as golden and bouncy as sunshine?  Do I start with how cute she was with her puppy-dog brown eyes, or perhaps with her tiny 4’11” stature? Tina seemed fragile at times yet she exuded an abundance of confidence and determination?   A mother’s heart holds it all, careful to keep and rehearse each detail, never to forget.  The memories will last a lifetime, and then I, we, will see her again and our life together will be eternal.

‘Everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’ John 3:15

My hope is in the reality that I WILL see her again. I will meet her at the gate of heaven. In Genesis28:16, Jacob describes heaven, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

While we cannot take away the hurt caused by Tina’s absence, we can draw strength and encouragement from her life and draw near to one another. I am grateful for the tender years with Tina and for the strong relationships I formed.

From my perspective as Tina’s mom, I learned early on that Tina had many paradoxes. She was tiny in stature yet large in heart. “T” was quiet yet could summarize in a few words what it would take me days to explain. Her silence in a room often spoke louder than the noisiest in the bunch. And even in her untimely death, her life speaks volumes. Her life was simple yet her impact, complex.

Tina’s legacy will continue partly because our family formed The Tina Foundation in her memory, but largely because of the person she was. Tina’s attention toward others transcended age, status, or gender. She was a confidant to both her older sister, Anna, as well as her younger sister, Lauren. She shared a close bond to her brother, Stephen, and enjoyed her youngest brother, William. Tina was ready at the drop of a hat to come to my rescue or to listen to a friend in need. Tina fit the profile Jesus describes in Matthew 5:5,8.

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.’

As her mother, I respected her determination to reach her goal to become an LSU cheerleader. Tina liked soccer; she especially liked softball and was good at both. Above and beyond, Tina’s love and passion consistently was with cheerleading. At a very early age Tina caught interest in the sport and it remained steady throughout her life.

Tina was an accomplished flutist, an honor student, and wanted to pursue nursing in college. But honestly, I think Tina had college cheerleading on her mind more than any career, which brings me to the tragic ending of Tina’s beautiful life…

In the summer of 2002, while following a path that would hopefully land her a position on the LSU cheer squad, Tina traveled throughout the southern states as an instructor with The Christian Cheerleaders of America. Only three high school interns were selected to work with the staff during the summer months. Tina learned advanced stunting moves as a cheer flyer, and taught chants and cheers to hundreds of young school age cheerleaders, Participating in daily devotions and skits Tina was challenged but was a trooper always. The schedule was rigorous and the hours were long, but Tina was thankful for the opportunity and hopeful for the future payoff as a college cheerleader.

The Texas camp had been busy …over 300 campers were there. Tina was exhausted and told me so. Even so, Tina put forth effort to pray for a cute, curly-haired redhead at the Texas camp. The girl, through Tina’s prompting, gave her life to Jesus. I have since had the opportunity to meet the young high school cheerleader, Megan.

The night before leaving the Texas camp, Tina described for me an exciting sign language performance in the CCA devotions that week. “T” said it was so awesome! The sign language was performed using a black light and white gloves and the song was “I Can Only Imagine”. I am sure you have heard the song played often on Christian and country radio. The song has special meaning to me now.

The very next day the CCA staff, traveling in a caravan of three vehicles, left Texas heading to North Carolina.  At 3:30 the next morning, as the middle 15 passenger van drove east of Birmingham, the van had a blow-out, flipped several times and landed on the I-20 highway. Four of the six cheerleaders were ejected from the van. One young man of 24, Adam Kellerman Pate, died at the scene while Tina and three others were air lifted to UAB medical center. Brentney, Casey and Priscilla survived their injuries.

Dennis and I were awakened early that Saturday morning to a distressed call concerning Tina. We hopped on the first flight to Birmingham to find Tina unconscious in the UAB hospital. She had been ejected out of the van from the crash, along with four others in the van, none of which had seat belts fastened while sleeping on the long trip to Winston-Salem, NC.

Tina died the next day, July 21, but not before four of her healthy organs were donated.

(See link to Ala Donor Assoc)

Dennis and I, along with our children, are extremely proud of Tina for her exemplary life and dedication to the Lord. We respect the goals she was striving to achieve, and we were her biggest fans. We look forward to seeing her again when Jesus calls us home.