‘Our sunshine’: Fifth-grader who made face masks for hospitals dies in Texas ATV crash
A 10-year-old girl who spent “countless hours” making coronavirus masks for her Texas community was killed in an all-terrain vehicle crash, according to an obituary and media reports.
Lexi Brooke Collins, of Munday, died Friday following the accident, KTXS reported. Munday is located in between Fort Worth and Lubbock.
An obituary for the fifth-grader states she “was unique, extraordinary and truly one of a kind.”
“Lexi was the breathing, walking definition of life,” her obituary on the McCauley-Smith Funeral Home Facebook page stated. “Lexi always walked on sunshine. It was just an innate part of her soul.”
A bronze statue in Lexi’s honor will be erected in the Munday’s Centennial Park, according to Munday resident Kim Harlin Kuehler. Profits toward shirts that read “Live Life like Lexi” will go toward the statue.
Lexi, who “mastered” quilting at a young age, made around 100 facial masks for her community in recent weeks, according to her obituary. A post earlier this month by KTXS shows health care workers at Anson General Hospital wearing masks Lexi made for them.
Her mother, Jara Gray Collins, posted a video slideshow Monday morning with photos of Lexi over the years with friends and family.
“Thank you all for loving my baby girl because she sure loved all of you!” Collins said. “She was the best person I knew, and I will miss her every second of every day for the rest of my life.”
Other people close to the Collins family also took to social media to send their condolences and comment on Lexi’s impact.
“Little Lexi, a fifth grader from Munday Elementary went so far above and beyond,” Kandis Longan Stephenson wrote about Lexi making the masks. “She spent probably weeks at her sewing machine. She thought of EVERYONE in Munday or who’d ever lived in Munday that was most vulnerable and took it upon herself to make sure they were taken care of. She even made and sent masks to hospital workers outside our county. Everyone who ever had the gift of meeting her even once is grieving this incredible loss.”
“She lit up our lives,” Harlin Kuehler wrote. “She was our SUNSHINE. I’m a better person for being around this angel.”
“Our community lost & heaven gained another angel today,” Kristen Kuehler wrote on Twitter last weekend. “This beautiful, sweet girl was full of sass and made teaching dance so enjoyable. It was an honor to know such a loving girl.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 12:26 PM with the headline "‘Our sunshine’: Fifth-grader who made face masks for hospitals dies in Texas ATV crash."