Laura was a quiet student who chose to sit in the back of the room. She would occasionally participate in class conversation, when the topic seemed too controversial to resist. Her writing was always excellent, and her no-nonsense approach to conferences was always appreciated. She always had a smile; she was a good student, one every professor likes in his or her class. I can’t help but feel the world is a little less now that she’s not around.
Laura died on Saturday. She was only 21. I’m glad that I got to know her, however briefly.
Here rests her head upon the lap of earth
A Youth, to Fortune and to Fame unknown:
Fair Science frowned not on her humble birth,
And Melancholy marked her for her own.
Large was her bounty, and her soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
She gave to Misery (all he had) a tear,
She gained from Heaven (’twas all she wished) a friend.
No farther seek her merits to disclose,
Or draw her frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,)
The bosom of her Father and her God.
–Thomas Gray, from “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
