Dear Toni,

November 28,2012

The Morgan that I knew for the two years we took ballet classes together at CMC with our teacher Kari Sea, was very intelligent and happy about her life. She had hopes about going to law school and also wanted to continue in a dance program when she went away to school. She adored her teacher, Kari, and was the one who spoke up for having ballet classes offered on a daily basis. Morgan took good care of her body and seemed to have recovered from some illness that she had battled when she was younger. Kari always encouraged attendance at class. A student could sit and watch if they weren’t feeling well. Morgan almost always was dancing because she loved it. She was the best at remembering the routines and steps that Kari demonstrated. Morgan usually stood where others could be helped if they forgot the moves. During the beginning of the 2011 fall semester our class on one of the days of the week, I forgot which day, started earlier than other days. I usually rode my bicycle, 10 miles, from Glenwood Springs after my morning school bus route to class. A couple of times I met Morgan at the bottom of the 3 mile climb to the CMC Spring Valley Campus where our class was held. She gave me a ride when I was having trouble getting to class on time. I remember her telling me sometime early in the semester that someone had been throwing things or hitting her window at night and they had to call the police. Sandra, my wife, texted Morgan to arrange for my ride and mentioned that we would be praying for her if I remember correctly. At first Morgan did not seem all that freaked out about it maybe because she thought whoever was doing this would be caught or stop.

As time went on it became freakier for all of us when we continued to hear that the noises at Morgan’s bedroom window were continuing. The police would show up and then shortly after they left the noises would begin again. After awhile Morgan seemed to be getting a little exasperated with the police who seemed unable to do anything to help. She said that if she took matters into her own hands she would be the one who got blamed. She was getting frustrated but she always kept her cool. Morgan always seemed to have her life together. She was almost always early to class. She would usually already be there sipping tea and relaxing by the time I arrived. She liked to knit. She made beautiful sweaters and things. I told her that my wife liked to knit but I tried to stay away from stuff that ended up in knots. Usually Sam and Nicole were already there also. They talked about how things were going. Our teacher was often late because she had a difficult schedule with classes in Vail, Aspen, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, and Spring Valley Campus. Once Morgan was there 30 minutes early because Kari said we were going to start class early to try to make up for the times she was late. I only got there 15 minutes early because I didn’t think Kari would really show up 30 minutes early. Morgan was frustrated with Kari so I said, “Hey, let’s tell Kari she has to do pushups for every minute she is late!” Kari used to make us do weight lifting if we acted lame in our dancing. So when Kari showed up we all said she had to do pushups but she laughed and ignored us. We were all like a family and so when Morgan was missing one week near the end of the semester someone asked,” where’s Morgan?” Someone had a text from her but we missed her.

The next week I opened up the newspaper and was shocked and began to cry when I saw Morgan’s picture in an obituary. I could not believe the report that she died a natural death. And for

the next year I never heard anything more about this terrible loss. I wished I could know what really happened or what happened to her family that I had never met. On the last day of class we all presented a solo dance of our own creation. I danced in memory of Morgan. Everyone cried. Our teacher cried so hard she had to leave the room. I will go on doing what I can in memory of Morgan and hope that I can be a friend to her parents. I have never met them but to have a daughter like Morgan they can be very proud and they must be wonderful people.

Sincerely

Thomas