CALEDONIA, Mich. — As she flips through pictures in her old high school sweatshirt, Stephanie Summerville's appreciation for where she comes from shows.
The Caledonia mom of nine was transported back to her hometown through sentimental remnants.
"Our highest point was when we got a Super Walmart ‘cause it wasn't just the regular Walmart anymore,” says Stephanie, “and movies on Sundays were 50 cents."
But nowadays, one bad memory outshines all of her good ones. "I don't want my town to be remembered for this," she says.
Born and raised in Uvalde, Stephanie says she never expected to see her tiny Texas town — nor the place where she learned so much — become the latest mass shooting site.
"You know who the bad people are and those are the bad people, but it's small stuff that they do,” says Stephanie. “This scale, we could never imagine that one in our community would do that."
Stephanie left at 16 years old, but most of her family still lives there.
She called her aunt — who works for the district — in a panic on Tuesday.
"One of my concerns was if it was one of my nephews because I know he goes to that school, but thankfully he wasn't one of those who died," Stephanie says.
In a place where everyone knows one another, however, the deaths still find a way to become all too personal.
"I actually have a couple of those where it's my cousin's cousin's niece or my cousin's niece that it happened to, so I know some of the children,” says Stephanie. “I know the teacher as well."
In a state of grief right now, Stephanie hopes to eventually see change that leads to a better future for her hometown and current city.
"It's easy to yell,” she says, “it's easy to get angry, but we just have to take our time and hug our babies because unfortunately, you really don't know if that's the last day for them whether it's an active shooter or whether you're in a car accident on the way to work. Anything can happen."
Stephanie asks that people consider donating to the two funeral homes in town, which have offered to cover the funeral costs for all of the victims:
Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary Uvalde
Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home
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