Christina-Taylor Green had big plans for her life, so now her childhood friends do too.
Canyon Del Oro High School senior Jamie Stone has already enrolled at the University of Arizona and is training to become an emergency medical technician as she prepares to enlist in the National Guard β all on her way to a possible career as a first responder like the ones who fought to save her childhood friendβs life nine years ago today.
βI try to live my best life for her,β Jamie said. βI think about her all the time.β
Fellow CDO senior Serenity Hammrich wants to study to become a nurse so she can help people and finally come to grips with what happened to her best friend.
βWhen I lost Christina-Taylor, it was very hard for me, and itβs still hard for me today,β Serenity said, her voice cracking with emotion. βI really work to push myself to be the person she would want me to be and experience all the things she canβt because sheβs gone.β
Christina-Taylor Green, above, βhad big goals and dreams,β says her friend Jamie Stone.
Bound by a tragedy in Tucson
Christina-Taylor was the youngest of six people killed in the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting that targeted then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
The 9-year-old third-grader was waiting in line to see Giffords at a βCongress On Your Cornerβ event in the Safeway parking lot near West Ina and North Oracle roads when she was shot.
Also killed were Dorothy Morris, 76; U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Gabe Zimmerman, 30. Thirteen people were wounded, including Giffords, who was shot in the head.
On the first anniversary of the shooting, Jamie and Serenity gave a speech about their friend during a memorial at the UAβs Centennial Hall.
Later that year, the two 10-year-olds were invited to a special Flag Day ceremony in Baltimore, where they spoke about Christina-Taylor and helped sew threads from the original Star-Spangled Banner into an American flag that flew over Ground Zero in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The same flag was flown at the funeral for Christina-Taylor, who was born on 9/11.
Former classmates of Christina-Taylor Green β from left, Serenity Hammrich, Jamie Stone and Alyson Matthews β walked together at the park named in Greenβs honor on Jan. 6, 2012, a year after her death.
Fast friends and a lifetime of memories
Serenity met Christina-Taylor on her first day of first grade at Mesa Verde Elementary School.
βShe walked up to me on the playground and asked to be my friend,β Serenity said.
They would chase butterflies and pick clovers and lay on the grass together, watching the clouds go by. Christina-Taylor introduced her to soccer.
Even after nine years, Serenity said everything still reminds her of her friend.
βSheβs just with me all the time,β she said.
Jamie said her friendship with Christina-Taylor began on the school bus on their way to kindergarten at Mesa Verde.
The girls bonded over play dates, sleepovers and karaoke.
βShe always said that she wanted to be a professional baseball player and some sort of politician,β Jamie said. βShe knew what she wanted. She had big goals and dreams.β
On one of their most memorable outings, Jamieβs mom, Paige Stone, took them hiking in Sabino Canyon. Stone said the girls packed picnic lunches and their bathing suits so they could spend hours splashing in the water and exploring the desert.
Stone still uses a picture from that day as the screensaver on her computer. She believes losing a friend at such a young age changed the trajectory of her daughterβs life.
βI think itβs influenced her. Itβs definitely influenced me,β Paige Stone said. βI think sheβs carried the torch. Itβs made her a stronger person and made her a more driven person.β
Jamie Stone, 10, writes a message to friend Christina-Taylor Green on Jan. 6, 20120, at park named in Greenβs honor. Fellow classmates Alyson Matthews, 9, and Serenity Hammrich, 10, are at left.
Stars of Hope for other stricken communities
Jamie and Christina-Taylor also served together on the student council at Mesa Verde.
Jamie is now the senior class vice president at CDO. On Friday, she will join about 65 of her fellow student council members from CDO, Mesa Verde and Cross Middle School for a special remembrance at the elementary school near North La CaΓ±ada Drive and West Magee Road.
From noon to 1:30 p.m., the students will paint wooden stars in honor of Christina-Taylor and the other victims of the Tucson shooting. The event is sponsored by Stars of Hope, a national healing arts organization that supports communities after tragedies.
Stars of Hope also will be on hand Saturday morning at Christina-Taylor Green Linear Park, where Moms Demand Action will host a Stroll and Roll event from 9 a.m. to noon along the Loop trail near North Shannon and West Magee roads.
Roxanna Green, Christina-Taylorβs mother, said the stars that are painted with hopeful messages on Friday and Saturday will be displayed sometime in the future in another community that is recovering from a traumatic event.
Saving lives and seeking closure
Serenity plans to be there on both days, just as she has for so many remembrances and charitable events in Christina-Taylorβs name. She said her family remains close with the Greens, and they all see each other almost every weekend.
After graduation, Serenity plans to study nursing at either the UA or Pima Community College because she said she wants to βhelp keep someone else from losing their best friend.β
Sheβs also looking for answers.
Serenity remembers people telling her back in 2011 that her best friend died after being shot, but she never really understood.
βIt wasnβt enough for me,β she said. βI feel like I still need closure with her death.β
Jamie and her mom donβt have much contact with the Green family these days, but they try to do something to remember Christina-Taylor each year, either on Jan. 8 or Sept. 11.
Sometimes they leave flowers at the angel sculpture at James D. Kriegh Park in Oro Valley, where Christina-Taylor played Little League baseball.
But Jamie said she thinks about her childhood friend the most during milestone moments in her own life, like middle school graduation or her 16th birthday. She knows Christina-Taylor will be on her mind this spring, when she receives her diploma from CDO.
The 18-year-old said her friend from elementary school is the reason she wants to pursue a career as a paramedic, possibly with an air ambulance crew. When something terrible happens, she wants to be one of the first ones on scene to help those in need β a caring face amid the chaos.
βI like to think Christina had someone like that,β she said.
2011 Tucson mass shooting victimsΒ
2011 Tucson mass shooting victims
Christina-Taylor Green
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Killed: Christina-Taylor Green, age 9.
Judge John Roll
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Killed: Federal Judge John Roll, District of Arizona
Gabe Zimmerman
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Killed: Gabe Zimmerman, aide to Rep. Giffords.
Phyllis Schneck
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Killed: Phyllis Schneck
Dorothy Morris
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Killed: Dorothy Morris
Dorwan Stoddard
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Killed: Dorwan Stoddard, 76
Gabrielle Giffords
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U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, pictured after treatment for a gunshot wound to the head.
Bill Badger
Updated
Bill Badger, a retired Army National Guard colonel, was grazed by a bullet on the back of his head yet he wasΒ one of the men who tackled Jared Lee Loughner and prevented him from reloading his gun.Β "I'm a little more jumpy than I was before," he said. "If I hear, you know, a door slam or something, or a loud noise, why - you jump."
Β
Ron Barber
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Ron Barber, director for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' district office, sits in his Tucson officeΒ on his first day back to work in the July 5, 2011 file photo. It appears more and more like Barber will run for her seat in the special election.
Ken and Carol Dorushka
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Ken Dorushka was shot in the forearm as he shielded his wife, Carol. "I find myself watching people a little more closely than I used to. I saw a guy in the grocery store walking around with a gun on his hip, and that disturbed me tremendously."
Eric Fuller
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Eric Fuller, whoΒ was shot twice, feared he would be unable to play tennis, but he has resumed playing.Β However, his emotional recovery has not been so smooth. HeΒ was taken for a mental-health evaluation at Palo Verde Hospital, where he spent several days, after disrupting aΒ town-hall-style television program in the aftermath of the shootings.Β
Randy Gardner
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Randy Gardner was shot through the right foot, just below the ankle, as he chatted with retiree Phyllis Schneck, who died in the shooting.Β "The doctors told me it was miraculous it didn't hit any bone," Gardner said.
Suzi Hileman
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Suzi Hileman touches Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Gilbert Caudillo, who helped Hileman after she was shot in the chest and right hip. "He saved my life," she said of Caudillo. "I'm only here because of that."Β
George Morris
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George Morris was shot in his back and lower left legΒ as he tried in vain to shield his wife, Dorothy, from a spray of gunfire.Β "This is someone I fell madly in love with when I was 16," he said. "I miss her terribly."
Mary Reed
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Mary Reed was shot in the arms and back as she shielded her 17-year-old daughter, Emma McMahon. She also suffered shrapnel wounds to the face and leg.Β Reed's whole family - her husband, Tom McMahon, and their two teenagers - was in line to see Giffords when gunfire erupted.Β "They can never forget it," Reed said. "But I'm hoping they heal."
Pam Simon
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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' community outreach coordinator, Pam Simon,Β was shot in the chest and through the right wrist.Β The bullet that entered her chest lodged in her upper hip.Β "I am very lucky. The doctors are still scratching their heads," Simon said. "Quite miraculously, other than chipping my pelvic bone, the bullet did not damage any internal organs."
Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard
Updated
Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard was shot three times in the legs. Stoddard also lost her husband, Dorwan "Dory" Stoddard, who died as he shielded Mavy from the gunfire. "I have to go to my good memories of a wonderful man and not dwell on the bad," Stoddard said.
Jim Tucker
Updated
Jim Tucker, pictured with Giffords and his wife, Doris, moments before the shooting, was shot in the calf and the the right collarbone. The bullet that hit his collarbone split apart and lodged in various parts of his back. One fragment cracked a vertebra.Β The photo shows government working the way it's supposed to work, he said.Β "She was doing the thing she does best. She listens to constituents." Doris wasn't injured in the attack.
