Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Lauren Ashley McCain: She reveled in foreign languages
Lauren Ashley McCain
- Age: 20
- Major: International studies
- Hometown: Hampton, Va.
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Sherry and David McCain, a U.S. Navy captain, waited at the Inn at Virginia Tech, embracing and weeping with other families as each child was identified. Finally, at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, a photograph of their daughter’s face ended their agony.
There was the image of Lauren McCain, the last person identified that day, a young woman who described Jesus as the “love of my life” and her older brother, Joel, as her hero on a MySpace profile.
“We went through those waves of grief constantly as one does,” said a family spokesman, the Rev. Leonard Riley, formerly of Restoration Church-Phoebus Baptist in Hampton. “We’re programmed to bury our grandparents, but not a child. It’s like we’re unequipped.”
From the emerging details, Lauren McCain was in her German class in Norris Hall when she was shot.
She was the second of four McCain children.
Erin Elliott, 18, said her cousin would call her from Virginia Tech, practicing her pronunciation of German poetry or seeking guidance when she confused the grammatical rules.
“She was a fast learner and, after one semester, she could catch my grammar mistakes,” Elliott said.
McCain absorbed new languages. In her teenage years she taught herself Latin, figuring it would help her with future studies in science and romance languages, Elliott said.
She would invent words that quickly caught on with her family, like “lupper” for the meal between lunch and dinner and “squeat” for let’s go eat.
“After she coined that word, we always said 'squeat.’ It was commonly heard for our family holiday gatherings,” Elliott said.
McCain, who was home schooled, worked for a year at Hecht’s department store and saved money for her first year in college.
Elliot said McCain cheered her up after she drove her grandfather’s diesel truck into a mailbox. “She prayed with me until I could stop crying and started laughing — she calmed me down,” the cousin said.
The two dreamed of traveling together in Germany for a summer, going so far as to call the airlines for fares. At other times, they envisioned living in a “huge mansion.” McCain wanted to live by the ocean while Elliot preferred mountains.
The two did pranks, “like hanging boys’ underwear in trees.”
McCain was born in Midwest City, Okla., and then moved to Florida, Texas and Hampton, Va., a little more than five years ago.
“She was a radiant person who had a genuine love for the Lord,” said the Rev. David Bounds at the Hampton church.
McCain was a music junkie who played guitar but refused to listen to country music. She played soccer on the Hampton church’s team and was active in its drama ministry.
“She was very spiritual,” her cousin said. “You knew everyone in the family would listen if you wanted to read something from a Bible. No matter where they moved, they always found a church.”
Jeff Elliott, an uncle and an Oklahoma state trooper assigned to an FBI cyber crime task force, said he was making preliminary arrangements for a memorial service and interment near Shawnee, Okla. She has many relatives, including grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins in that region of Oklahoma.
“This is the home base for the McCains,” he said. “I feel that we should honor these kids and their memories. Then, possibly, there is some good that can come out of this bad situation.”
Judy Magouirk, McCain’s aunt who lives in Fort Worth, Texas, said in an e-mail:
“Lauren was a bright light in our family. She was involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, and participated in five different international Bible study groups. … Her plan was to live in Europe after graduation. She leaves behind a loving family who will miss her dearly.”
— Pamela Podger
