In Memory of Tamara Austin :

In Memory of Tamara Austin

I'm Glad We Had Times Together

Just To Laugh And Sing A Song

Seems Like We Had Just Got Started

And Then Before We Knew It

The Times We Had Together Were Gone

--Dr Suess--

Crash At Intersection Near School

Claims Life Of 16-Year-Old

Tamara Danielle Austin

--CENTRAL HEIGHTS--

A Central High School student was killed Friday afternoon at the same intersection that claimed the life of a classmate last year.

Tamara Danielle Austin, 16, died about 3:20 p.m. after her car collided with a Jeep Cherokee at the intersection of Lauderdale 20 and Lauderdale 15.

Authorities said Austin, who turned 16 in August, lived about a mile from the wreck. Friends said the teen-ager had recently begun driving the silver Eagle Talon that sported a tag with her name on the front.

The wreck occurred in the same spot where friends and relatives of Candi Hamm erected a wooden cross with the words "angel in heaven" after she died in a two-car wreck in June 2000.

Hamm was a month shy of her 16th birthday.

Central High Principal David Corl called Friday’s tragedy devastating. School officials spent part of the evening comforting students.

In the wake of Austin’s death, the school’s Friday night football game was moved to tonight. Corl said a special prayer before the game is planned to remember Austin, a well-liked 11th-grader involved in several school clubs.

"The game was postponed," Corl said. "Her death puts everything into perspective, and football becomes unimportant."

State troopers worked the wreck with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office and the Central Volunteer Fire Department.

The investigation continues, but a trooper at the scene said Austin’s car was traveling north on Lauderdale 15, while the Jeep was heading east on Lauderdale 20.

Emergency crews at the scene said Austin was wearing her seatbelt during the crash that tore the driver’s side of her car. She was alone in the car.

The impact spun both cars and injured the driver of the Jeep, Florence resident Hugh L. Thompson, 53.

Thompson, who was listed in stable condition, was admitted overnight at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital.

While two teens have been killed at the intersection, speed and inattention have been factors in other wrecks on that stretch of the highway, said Central Fire Chief Terry Lovelace.

Cars traveling on Lauderdale 15 must stop at stop signs, yielding to traffic on Lauderdale 20.

"To me, it’s the people that don’t want to wait for oncoming traffic to get through," said Lovelace, who responded to the wrecks that killed both Austin and Hamm.

He said troopers pursue speeders on Lauderdale 20, but "they can’t catch everybody."

Corl said counselors would be on hand Monday to assist students. Austin’s sister, Nikkole, is a Central senior.

As classmates cope with the loss, Austin’s friendly demeanor will be missed in Central’s hallway, Corl said.

"Seeing her smile is what I will miss," Corl said.

"She was a student that you never saw in a bad mood."

TAMMY!!! I MISS YOU SOO MUCH!! THINGS JUST ARENT THE SAME I WAKE UP WONDERING WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF U WAS STILL HERE. AT TIMES I DREAM THAT U R STILL HERE AND I WAKE UP AND GO TO UR ROOM AND UR NOT THERE!! I FOUND A NOTE FROM U SAYING LIFE WOULDNT BE THE SAME WITH OUT U AND UR RIGHT!! SAVE ME A SEAT LIL SIS!! I LOVE U AND I CANT WAIT TO C U!! LOVE UR SIS KOLE!

Tamara and Nikkole

Gone Away

Don't think of her as gone away~
Her journey has just begun.
Life holds so many facets~
The earth is only one.
Just think of her as resting~
From the sorrows and the tears.
A place of warmth and comfort~
Where there are no days or years.
Think of how she must be wishing~
That we could know today.
How nothing but our pain~
Can really go away.
And think of her as living~
In the herats of those she touched.
For nothing loved is ever lost~
And she was loved so much.

Tamara at the beach

Nikkole and Tamara

It broke my heart to lose you,
But you didn't go alone.
A part of me when with you,
The day God took you home.
A million times I loved you,
A million times I cried.
If love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died.
Now the grave I look at,
The flowers are placed with care.
No one knows the pain,
As I turn to leave you there.
If tears could build a staircase,
And a heartache could build a lane.
I'd take the path to Heaven,
And bring you back again.