Anna spent most of August in the summer before her senior year visiting the family of Ado’s mother in Barcelona.  It seemed like such a big step for her to travel so far on her own.  I know she talked and wrote a lot about Lloret De Mar about an hour north of Barcelona.  When I visited the spot where she had so much fun and heard the stories about the summer from Ado’s mom, Miriam, I knew that Anna was smiling.

Mi hija,  Thank you for showing up as my angel especially this week in Barcelona. I was so touched when your host mom, Miryam, shared after you left, she found this perfectly written thank you note hidden under on the coffee table.  That is sooooo Anna!

I  lost two of my friends, Anna and Amanda, earlier this year due to a car crash in Mexico that could have been avoided with improved road conditions. Amanda’s family led a campaign to work with the local government to add lights and signs to the area. Mandi and Anna are only a few of far too many who have died there, but hopefully they will be the last. I miss you two ❤️

Gofund me link: Honoring Amanda and Anna

Madeline Haff -Via Facebook

Updates on improving the road construction for future travelers. Help spread the word. ❤️

Honoring Amanda and Anna

Samantha Boccia – Via Facebook

5 years later, these two are still two of my favorite people. This photo was from our Junior Dinner, which honestly does not feel that long ago. I remember going over to Anna’s house before the dinner, playing with Yoda, talking about how weird it’s going to be to see teachers in a social setting (!!). But one of my favorite memories about this night is what Anna and I got to do in the weeks leading up to it. Our Junior year, Anna and I were Activities Chairs together and so we helped plan the Junior Dinner. We were tasked to create playlists for different parts of the dinner. For the dinner part of the night, we had no problem deciding on some 70 classics– September, Good Vibrations, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, I Want You Back. But for the post-dinner dancing part of the night, Anna and I decided it was a no-brainer to create a playlist of all middle school, throwback songs. This practically felt like our calling. Where we needed 20-25 songs, Anna and I got so excited we created a list of over 150 straight JAMS. We’d work on the playlist almost daily, listening and dancing together while we listened to songs during lunch or H block in the library. We’d text each other when we’d have to delete bangers like Bedrock, Get Low, Hot in Here, I Kissed a Girl, Club Can’t Even Handle Me from our masterpiece playlist (sadly, none of these songs made the final cut). I’ll never forget the look on Anna’s face when the time for our playlist finally came and Wake Up by Hilary Duff blasted from the speakers, prompting the majority of the class to move to the dance floor area. Anna, Adrienne and I quickly got up to belt out songs like One Time, Beautiful Soul, Disturbia, and Bottoms Up. It’s so funny how listening to these songs takes me straight back to this dinner and reminds me how lucky I am to have created something together with Anna that I’ll always remember.

Hola soy José Ramón o como me decía Anna JR, me dijeron que diga unas palabras y esta es la única forma por que no puedo en persona.

Conocí a Anna y a Ado aquí en República Dominicana y nos hicimos muy pero muy amigos, fue tan grande la amistad que Adonis y Anna regresan en una segunda ocasión para celebrar mi cumpleaños, eso fue grandioso.

Cuando me enteré del accidente… no lo creía hasta le escribí esperando aunque sea una respuesta y ahí me di cuenta que era verdad, el mismo día del accidente Anna me dejó unos mensajes de voz. Diciendo que me extraña, que quería verme y que quería hacer una empresa conmigo en fin… Anna era una excelente persona, ella era muy buena con las personas y siempre quería ayudarlas. Ella era muy importante para mi y para mi novia Carla.

Le mando un gran abrazo a sus padres por su dolor pero le doy también las gracias por haber creado una persona tan maravillosa, esto es para ti Anna, siempre te recordaremos .

Hello, My name is Jose Ramon or like Anna used to call me JR. I was asked to say some words and this is the only way I can do it since I cannot say it in person.

I met Anna and Ado in Dominican Republic and we became fast friends, really good friends, our friendship was so big that they decided to come back a second time for my birthday, it was awesome.

When I found out about the accident… I could not believe it, but I kept texting her and calling her and I kept waiting for an answer, that is when i realized it was true, that same day of the accident, Anna left me some voice-messages, saying she missed me, that she wanted to see me and also that she wanted to create some sort of business with me, anyway… she was an excellent person, she was always nice to people and always try to help people. She was so important to me and my girlfriend Carla.

I send a big hug to her parents for their pain but also I wanted to thank them for creating such a wonderful person, this is for you Anna, we will ALWAYS remember you.