08 May Truly emma
Truly emma
By: Nicole Lewis, mother of Emma Paige Lewis (10/26/2005 – 3/21/2020)
March 21, 2020. The date that now clearly defines life before and after Emma. The shock and despair of finding your child deceased is something that rattles you to your core. How do you survive that kind of loss? It’s a roller coaster we navigate every single day. How do you continue to parent a child who is no longer physically here? I can’t pretend that I don’t go up and down in my emotions and stages of grief. But one thing that gives me purpose—and keeps me connected to Emma is doing things that honor her life and ensure her name continues to be spoken. She was such a bright light in this world, and I believe she continues to shine on us from above.
We’ve created that connection in a few special ways. A couple of years before Emma passed, our family had a lighthearted conversation about how amazing it would be if, when a loved one died, you could place their remains in marbles and always keep them close a tangible way to feel their presence. So, when Emma left us, we did just that. We had thousands of marbles made and shared them with friends and family. Five years later, people are still taking Emma with them on their travels. She’s visited every continent and even many of the Wonders of the World. We receive beautiful photos of the marbles from all corners of the globe and maintain a public album for everyone to share. Our hope is to one day compile these incredible adventures into a book.
Truly emma
Emma was a social butterfly who made friends wherever she went. She never let anyone feel excluded and always went out of her way to make people feel seen. The Christmas before she passed, our family participated in a fundraiser collecting items for a local teen foster home. While delivering the donations, Emma recognized a classmate. She was shocked to learn that the girl lived in foster care. Around that same time, we were filling out paperwork for “Grad Bash,” the end-of-year trip to Universal Studios for eighth graders. It’s an expensive trip, and Emma asked if she could use one of her Christmas presents to fund a peer’s ticket, someone less fortunate who might otherwise miss out.
Emma never made it to that trip. But we started a fund in her honor to continue helping other students go, and in doing so, we began to keep her spirit alive. Although Emma never attended high school, her friends carried on her legacy. At the high school level, the National Honor Society created the Emma Lewis Memorial Committee. This year, they hosted a pickleball tournament, and the funds raised are going toward reducing the cost of caps and gowns and creating a scholarship for students pursuing alternative paths, specifically those attending trade schools, who often don’t qualify for traditional scholarships geared toward college-bound students.
Last year, Emma was supposed to graduate. It was one of the hardest milestones to grieve. To help process that loss, we created the Emma Lewis Kindness Scholarship. We invited seniors to submit an essay based on this prompt:
“Kindness has the power to shape lives in profound ways. Share a story that illustrates the transformative impact of a single act of kindness, whether it’s a moment that touched you personally or someone you know.”
Sofia Fecarotta, the 2025 Emma Lewis Kindness Award Recipient
This year’s winner perfectly captured the essence of who Emma was. I’d like to share an excerpt from her beautiful essay: “Kindness is no doubt the most important thing in the world. In a world where kind people are sometimes hard to find, the smallest act can truly have a lasting impact on a life. In my case, that is what Emma’s Legacy did for me. Although I didn’t know her as well as everyone else, I really looked up to her and found myself often in awe of everything she did. We both played volleyball at SSMS and Trinity and we played the same position, but she had an impact on and off the court. Not only was she a hard worker and a great teammate but as soon as she stepped off the court, she always had a warm and welcoming presence to whoever she came across. As an insecure, shy, and reserved little middle schooler who didn’t have many friends, volleyball picture day was kind of rough. My hair wasn’t done, I didn’t have any makeup on, and my jersey was wrinkly. I felt so out of place. Seeing all the girls laughing and talking made me feel really down knowing I wasn’t doing the same. In hopes of trying to be like the others I decided to attempt to straighten my hair even though I had zero clue how to do that because I never had even tried before. I walked over to the pink and black glittery table with all of the hot hair tools and makeup items. On the brink of tears, I stood there confused and clueless on what I was doing and didn’t know who to turn to. But that moment is when Emma noticed me. She came over, took the straightener, and gave me a quick little tutorial on how to use it—some tips, tricks, and the biggest smile. As she walked away, I noticed myself start to smile too.
This quick and small act of kindness helped me to finish my hair and gave me confidence in a setting where I previously had none. It wasn’t even about my hair anymore; it was how she made me feel seen, important, and like I belonged when I felt invisible to everyone else. She never knew how much I needed it that day. This situation really showed me that in life, you never truly know how someone is feeling or what people are going through. It is so important to make everyone feel seen in this world. I never forgot what Emma did for me that day, and I really do believe that it changed my life.”
These tributes don’t erase the immense hole her absence leaves in our lives, but they allow us to keep Emma alive in a different way—a way that lets us continue parenting her from afar and honoring the beautiful legacy she created in just 14 short years.
