Joanne Lagano died last summer just weeks before she was to begin studies at McGill. In this essay, her friend Joanna McVeigh, now a Syracuse freshman, remembers her close friend

August 22, 1996 was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life. I was off to Syracuse University to begin the next chapter of my life. Little did I know that the next couple of weeks would be the toughest time I had ever known.

I think back to my very first day of high school orientation at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset, New York. The class of 1996 sat in the auditorium listening to the many faculty members. I remember looking around at total strangers, with an uneasy feeling of what lay ahead of me. Everyone always told our class that we were a special group. We came together as complete strangers and left as the closest of friends. We all thought we were invincible, that nothing would ever happen to any of us, but we were wrong.

Our four years together provided many fun filled memories, especially our graduation on June 8, 1996. All 81 students in the class '96 sat in white caps and gowns with smiles on our faces. This was the last day we would all be together. Everyone was going separate ways, but we knew that we were still the same special group that entered high school together four years prior.

Four days before I was to leave for college my parents sat me down and told me news I never imagined. My friend, Joanne, was killed in a car accident on August 16, 1996 along with her mother and brother. (Her father had left the day before for business.) They were coming home from a family reunion in Nova Scotia, Canada. I thought the next time I would see Joanne would be during Thanksgiving, never thinking it would be at her funeral.

I will never forget the numbness that came over my body as the tears streamed down my face when my parents explained to me that Joanne was gone forever. I thought to myself, "Gone forever? How can someone who had so many years left be gone forever?" I went through all the what-ifs and of course the question "Why am I here and she is not?" I knew the next couple of weeks were going to be impossible. This tragedy I will live with for the rest of my life. Every morning I wake up thinking about her and how she touched my life, and I think to myself, "It just is not fair!"

Jo was a genuine individual with a lot of character. She was a brilliant student, president of student council, and a friend to everyone, myself included. If anyone in school had a problem they would speak to Joanne and she would take care of everything. In our high school yearbook Jo was voted "busiest" because she never gave up or took a break. This was not because she felt she had to, but because she wanted to.

Throughout high school Jo was on the principal's list. This honour means that Joanne obtained an average of 95 and above for four straight years. She was a focused student who had her eyes set on graduating from McGill University and then going on to claim her PhD. These dreams were suddenly shattered the morning of August 16, 1996. There are people in life who know what they want and are so focused that nothing will stand in their way, but death does not respect that.

Joanne's death was a loss to everyone. She wanted to attend McGill University's Faculty of Medicine. Jo worked hard her whole life to achieve this accomplishment, but she could not live out her dream.

The class of 1996 was convinced Jo would be the one to find the cure for cancer or AIDS, but she herself could not live past eighteen years. Her future was brighter than the sun on a beautiful day. I never expected anyone with so much future and promise to be stripped away from the many people who love her tremendously.

When I went to say my final good-bye to Joanne at her wake, I saw her McGill University banner in her coffin and knew that McGill suffered a huge loss. I know how much she wanted to attend McGill. Her family was so proud that she made her dreams come true and wanted her to have fun and enjoy all of her successes. You know when someone really wants to attend a college they will do extremely well. No one doubted Joanne. Everyone knew she would be the most successful graduate of the class of 1996.

Joanne's life ended before it began in some ways. She lived her life to the fullest. Jo earned many college acceptances to highly acclaimed universities, many scholarships, and many awards for her intelligence, but now all of this is a distant memory of what could have been.

From this eulogy I think one can realize the type of person that Joanne was. I choose to remember her as the friend I made millions of memories with inside and outside of school, rather than the Joanne I saw who lay motionless in her wooden coffin. So much talent and love was taken on August 16. Joanne could not live out her dream, her brother would not be able to graduate from high school, and her mother would never be able to see her children grow into adults.

Moving on in my life was and still is hard. I was told to always take the positives out of experiences like this. I know Joanne would not want me to grieve her death, but rather carry on her ways.

As time goes on I find myself looking up to the sky and seeing a star that shines brighter than all the others. In my mind I know that the star represents Jo looking out for everyone. When Joanne died I lost an amazing friend, but I gained my own guardian angel. I think of the old saying, "only the good die young."

Joanne, even though you had to leave at such an early time in our lives, I want to assure you that you will never be forgotten. You have touched many lives and though you cannot be with everyone physically we know that you will always be in our hearts. I wish we could have shared more times together, but the ones that we have shared in our four years of knowing each other will be cherished forever. Eventually my tears will dry up, but I do not know when and where that will be. It is just so hard to think that you are no longer with us. Please give me the strength and knowledge to carry on your unselfish ways. Thank you for all of the memories. You will never be forgotten. I love and miss you. Keep shining.

Joanne lived a full and happy life and I truly believe that if she had known she were to die so young she would not have changed a thing. Her mission in life was to touch the many lives of others and that mission was completed. I am going to miss Joanne with all of my heart, but I know that she is shining down on me from heaven.

"Those we hold most dear never truly leave us. They live on in the kindness they showed, the comfort they shared and the love they brought into our lives." -Isabel Norton-

In the memory of Joanne Nicole Lagano, January 21, 1978 to August 16, 1996.