Published Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
A 13-year-old Hermitage girl died Tuesday morning at the hospital of Sharon Regional Health System after collapsing in Hermitage Middle School.
Mercer County Coroner J. Bradley McGonigle pronounced Ashley A. Bryan of 1957 Pine Hollow Blvd. dead at 9:52 a.m. in the hospital emergency room. He said the cause of her death was unknown, but was not considered suspicious. An autopsy was performed Tuesday afternoon in Erie County, he said, but the results were still pending by evening.
According to Ashley's father, the Rev. Gary Bryan, doctors told him his daughter may have suffered from an infection that caused her heart to swell, which is why they requested the autopsy. She did not have any heart problems, though she did have asthma, said her father, pastor of Shenango Valley Church of God on Pine Hollow Boulevard, Hermitage.
"A neighbor lady saw her get on the bus this morning and couldn't believe it when she heard. She told us 'I saw her run to bus this morning. She couldn't have been sick,' " Rev. Bryan said. "If it was an infection in her heart, it would have been very, very recent. It was not something you could have even noticed."
Hermitage police said they were called at about 8:30 a.m. for a student possibly having seizure in the middle school library. Upon arrival, they assisted school medical personnel and paramedics in their use of the school's defibrillator on the eighth-grader. She was then taken to the hospital.
"She was just full of life and let it show," said her father. "She had a way with younger kids. They loved her and she loved them and worked with them very well."
He said she was involved the church's nursery, junior church, Bible school and family nights on Thursdays. She was also on the school's softball team and played basketball in seventh grade. She also played the flute and was involved in academic activities.
"She carried a very high GPA (grade point average). If she wasn't getting a 4.0, she would do extra work. She was very driven. She was exceptional," he said.
Hermitage School District Superintendent Karen Ionta said Ashley was entering the library to study for an academic competition on Saturday. She described the eighth-grader as a "remarkable, wonderful student who was very, very intelligent. She was beautiful inside and out."
Jeff Turk of Hermitage, an assistant softball coach of Ashley's the last two summers, described her as "a very exuberant girl," adding "she had lots of friends and it was easy to see why."
She played for the Hermitage Junior Girls' Softball League, he said.
The administration brought in grief counselors Tuesday. "There was someone in each of the classrooms in the middle school," Mrs. Ionta said. "We want to make sure the kids and staff are OK. We will have people available for the rest of the week and as long as they need to be there."
She said they also have some information available for parents to help their children deal with the situation. "We are encouraging the kids to talk about this and to go home and talk with their parents," Mrs. Ionta said.
As for the high school dedication this evening, the ceremony will go on as planned, because of the difficulty of canceling at such short notice. "Our hearts will be very heavy," Mrs. Ionta said.
"I guess my perspective is that she went to school and then she went home. She was known by her faith in the Lord, her love of life and her love of people," her father said.
Besides her father, Ashley is survived by her mother, Sandy, and a 19-year old brother Adam who attends California University of Pennsylvania.
Incomplete obituary information on page A-6.