Playground is tribute to Taylor student 9 years after crash

This story originally published Sept. 2, 2015.

MARION, Ind. – If grief is a journey, Dan and Jeanie Smith have been on one long, tortuous trip for nearly 9½ years.

They buried their daughter Betsy in 2006 after she was killed in a horrific crash that claimed the lives of four other people and injured four more.

But their faith has seen them through the worst of times, and on Monday, the Illinois couple returned to the community their daughter loved to honor her memory, to laugh, to give thanks and to leave something behind.

The last time the Smiths visited Betsy here was a few weeks before her death.

The 22-year-old senior at Taylor University was driving her parents slowly through the neighborhoods of Marion, and kids were racing out to greet her, yelling her name.

It was like she was a superstar — or “the Good Humor man,” said Jeanie Smith.

Betsy knew these streets and these kids. She volunteered in the community as co-director of ReaLife, a student-led ministry, and she planned to make her home here.

“That’s our last memory with her,” Dan Smith said. “She wanted to show us where she was going to live after graduation; her passion was working with the kids.”

Those kids are grown now, and Betsy never got the chance to live that dream, but she is still a big part of the Marion community and Taylor University, a Christian liberal arts college in Upland, nine miles away.

Betsy died April 26, 2006, after the school van she was riding in was struck by a tractor-trailer on I-69. The crash, just minutes from the Marion exit, also killed students Bradley Larson, Laurel Erb, Laura Van Ryn and school employee Monica Felver.

The horror of the accident was compounded by the drama that played out in a Fort Wayne hospital after the identities of two of the victims were inadvertently switched at the crash site.

The parents of Van Ryn kept vigil at what they thought was their daughter’s bedside while she recovered from devastating injuries. Whitney Cerak’s parents meanwhile had buried the girl they thought was their daughter. The truth wouldn’t come out for an agonizing five weeks.

The news made headlines worldwide, but so did the grace the families showed in the midst of grief.

“God used Taylor’s tragic loss to make a tremendous impact on a watching world,” are the words inscribed on a plaque at the school’s Memorial Prayer Chapel, which opened on the two-year anniversary of the crash. “Countless stories were received, telling how the prayerful response of this community encouraged many ...”

Bearing witness to those words, a large crowd gathered Monday at the Boys & Girls Club of Marion to build and dedicate the Elizabeth “Betsy” Smith Playground.

When the volunteers arrived at 9 a.m., the build site was a pile of dirt, but by mid-afternoon, a sparkling new playground would rise from the ground, a gift to the new generation of kids who find a safe haven at the club on South Meridian Street in Marion.

“What an amazing way to honor her,” Dan Smith said as he watched students, staff and family members working under a baking sun.

It’s something Betsy would have loved, her mom agreed. “She would be squealing with delight right now.”

That was Betsy. Vibrant, excitable, generous, loving.

“She loved loving people,” said Alexa Ross, ReaLife’s co-director and one of the primary forces behind the playground project.

Ross was just a little girl when Betsy Smith died, and they never met, but she’s read the tributes, heard the stories, talked to those who knew and loved her ReaLife predecessor.

So it made perfect sense to her that the student ministry, which serves children at the Boys & Girls Club, should honor the young woman who lived her faith in public and private.

Most of the cost of the playground ($22,000) was paid for with funds raised at the annual Betsy Smith 5K in Decatur, Ill. The Smiths live in nearby Mount Zion. This year’s race is Sept. 26, and after 10 years, it will be the last, Dan Smith said.

It was started by friends of the couple, and the community support has been gratifying, they say, but it’s time to shift the focus to other families who are grieving.

“We know this won’t be the end of Betsy’s memory just because the race is coming to an end,” he said.

His daughter lives on in the “Betsy Bridge,” built by longtime friends and fellow Taylor parents Ray and Judy Neier in Roachdale. The Smiths plan to walk across that bridge for the first time on Betsy’s birthday, Oct. 9.

And she lives on in the younger generation. Rachel Morley, a friend of Betsy’s in school, named her daughter Grace Elizabeth in Betsy’s memory. Both were on hand for the building project.

And Betsy’s spirit can be found in people like Djamina Esperance, a senior at Taylor and a native of Haiti who joined dozens of other students to volunteer at the build site.

“I’m here to help out and make an impact. It’s important because of the legacy that Betsy left,” Esperance said. “I didn’t know her, but I’ve read stories about her and it’s inspired me. I’m expecting to get down and get dirty and use some of my muscle.”

The Smiths, whose two younger daughters graduated from Taylor after Betsy’s death, are still part of the Taylor family. Their youngest child, Peter, is a senior.

After the shock of loss, they have chosen a path of peace — even gratitude.

“Without our faith in God and his love for us, we would not have made it this far,” Jeanie Smith said. “We have learned to not ask ‘Why, Lord.’ Instead, we try to figure out what he wants us to do now because we have seen his hand in our lives all along the way.”

As for Betsy, “She had pretty much found her passion,” her mom said. “ReaLife allows students who are at Taylor to put some feet on their ideals ... Betsy would be so thrilled that something tangible is being done to bless the kids of this community.”

Call Star reporter Maureen Gilmer at (317) 444-6879. Follow her on Twitter: @MaureenCGilmer.