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Prior days' news: By date | Search This week's print issue Back issues: By date | Search April 19, 2007Mary Karen ReadMary Karen Read was just getting her bearings at Virginia Tech, making friends and finding her niche on the campus. She worked in a dining hall, joined the concert band, and was considering a sorority. She was a 19-year-old freshman who did not get a chance to declare a major. Ms. Read’s profile on MySpace paints a picture of a popular teenager from Annandale, Va., who was considering a career as a teacher. She played lacrosse in high school and loved chocolate-chip cookie-dough ice cream and watching Dawson’s Creek reruns on television. Several memorial sites were created in her honor on Facebook, where many friends remembered a kind, talented, and caring young woman.  Facebook.com “Everyone mattered to you,” one person wrote. “Your face would just light up and you’d smile at everyone.” At Virginia Tech she had joined Campus Crusade for Christ and a Bible-study group. Will Peterson, director of the University Campus Band, knew Ms. Read from her first days there. She played the clarinet and was diligent about attending Monday-night rehearsals. “I’m just glad that she had that involvement in music, because I know she loved it in high school,” Mr. Peterson says. Born in South Korea to an Air Force family, she lived in Texas and California before ending up in northern Virginia, where she flourished as a student. According to the Annandale High School newspaper, Ms. Read was a member of the National Honor Society and the French Honor Society. In the newspaper’s report of her death, John Ponton, the school’s principal, remembered Ms. Read for her “ability to befriend everyone she met.” —Erin Strout Posted on Thursday April 19, 2007 | Permalink | |