CONWAY, AR --
Purple balloons color a bright blue sky -- released by Abby Robbins' second grade classmates and friends."We might not have been ready for Abby to leave us but she's in a much better place than we are today so that's been very comforting to know," said Matthew Tucker, Abby's principal.
Tucker said students miss seeing the talkative eight year old roaming the halls. They miss her grandmother, too. Janice Robbins not only volunteered at the school but also at the church.
"There's more to their life than just the last part and those are things to help console us, to be strengthened at this time," said Father John Marconi of the St. Joseph Church.
That last part Father Marconi referenced is a January 7 house fire, in which investigators say the grandmother started after she stabbed her granddaughter. She then killed herself.
But Marconi wants his parishioners to remember the smiling faces of those two beloved congregants and those who supported them through all of this.
"People have been really good and not just in the Catholic community but the Christian community overall but Conway city at large," said Marconi.
Abby's classmates will plant flowers at the school to remember her. Meanwhile, Abby's family plan to donate a playhouse to the school to keep her memory alive.
