Loss

Greater Little Rock Rugby Complex sign by Keri Young, 1983-2011.

I was at a wedding when the email came through, so I wasn’t checking. The reception ended and I headed home, grabbed the kids and hubby and went out for a bite since I hadn’t eaten all day. Came home tired and wanting some time with my kids. They were restless and it took so long to get them into bed. Then I dropped.

I awoke after midnight and couldn’t sleep. Came downstairs and looked at Facebook and saw something I did not want to see. That’s when I checked my email.

To find that a beautiful light had vanished.

Keri Young, rugby player, local artist, native of Zambia, beautiful, generous — and too, too young — had passed away in a car accident Saturday morning.

I was lucky enough to have the chance to work with Keri on a project. Some time in 2009, the Little Rock Men’s Rugby team had the idea to put out a 2010 Calendar. It was just that — an idea — until Keri got hold of it. She made it happen. Scheduled, organized, helped find guys to be in the photos. I came along for the ride, took the photos, and handed the best over to her. She did what I consider the much tougher (and mostly thankless) job of designing and laying out the calendar and sending it to the printer.

Here’s the other thing I loved about Keri: she could share the title of artist, and honor it, and even bring it out. During the process of shooting photos for the calendar, I happened to see a beat up pair of rugby cleats and snapped a photo. Keri loved it. Without my knowing, she used it for the Ozark Tournament T-shirt design. I was never prouder to see a photo of mine in my life, than to arrive at the 2010 Ozark Tournament and find one of my photos on the tournament T-shirt. She took what I considered a mediocre photo and turned it into a work of art.

This was Keri: generous, giving, a mover and shaker, dedicated, a hard worker. Others knew her better than I, but, knowing her as an artist, I loved seeing her explore her talent. She was gifted. Her images did something to you.

In the New Work section of her gallery are the photos that break my heart. I know some of the people in the pictures, and I know that Keri captured something of them that goes far beyond their physical representations. I want to see so much more, and I know there will not be much more to see.

Short Stories IV • Keri Young, artist

In the last month of her life, Keri’s work was chosen for the Small Works on Paper exhibit by the Arkansas Arts Center. Her work was also one of only a few selected for a purchase award, which means the museum decided to add it to their permanent collection.

Keri was 27. She had so many creative and productive years ahead of her. Some of us don’t discover our path until we are in our 20s, or our 30s, or even later. Keri seems to have always known where she would go, and how wonderful for us! Despite her youth, she had been producing artwork for many years.

What’s left to say? Wake up tomorrow and bless the divine gift of the day you have been given. Bless it with your attention. Don’t waste time feeling guilty about what you didn’t do, and don’t waste time procrastinating about what you need to do. Be generous with all that is yours to give, and add a little beauty every time you get the chance. Follow Keri’s example and leave something behind you that continues to give to others. This is why we are here, and why anyone is given any gift, so that God can bless others through us. In this, Keri was unquestionably a success.

Everyone associated with rugby will miss Keri terribly. But, her memorial is all around us, in the gift of her talent and the beauty she created. She blesses us still.