Here is the story by S. Brady Calhoun that appeared in Sunday’s News Herald (photos by me):

Her parents named her Joy.
   And that’s what she brought with her, always smiling and laughing, and those around her could not help but smile, too, her friends said Saturday. She was the kind of girl who found lost dogs and returned them to their owners and rescued turtles from the road, friends said. 
   Marisa Joy Williams, 18, of Lynn Haven, an actress and stage manager who graduated from Bay High School and Gulf Coast Community College, died in a car accident Saturday morning. Williams recently moved to
Orlando and was majoring in technical theater at the University of Central Florida. Williams amassed enough credits to graduate from Bay High at 16; she then finished Gulf Coast in 18 months, her friends said.
   In January, she began her first semester at the University of Central Florida.
   Williams appeared as an actress in dozens of local plays. 
   “She was just someone who was incredible to be around,” said Nathan Simmons, a friend and fellow actor. “For the past several years, if she wasn’t in a show, then she was backstage. That was what she really loved to do.”
   Most recently, she played Ophelia in “Hamlet,” he added. 
   Williams’ 2003 Saturn crashed on Interstate 75 in Alachua County, the Florida Highway Patrol reported in a news release. She was headed northbound outside of Micanopy when she lost control of the car and it traveled into the grass median about 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning, investigators said. Her Saturn went 165 feet before striking a group of trees, troopers said in a news release.
   Investigators noted that severe thunderstorms were reported in the area but said it was unclear if the storms or a wet roadway caused the crash. 
   She left behind her parents, Donna and Charles Williams, two brothers, Josh and David Jeffrey, a sister, Amy Barry, and a host of friends, those close to her said Saturday.
   Williams was headed to Tallahassee to pick up her boyfriend, friends said. The man’s car had broken down, and he was stranded, they added.
   “That’s just the kind of person she was,” Simmons said. “She was always very giving. Always ready to help anybody.”
   Simmons and Williams won an acting award together in 2005 for a two-person play they put on at the Florida Theater Conference. Williams played the victim of a horrible crime.
   “What she was able to bring to that was really incredible,” said Chuck Clay, her drama teacher at Bay High School. “She broke my heart.”
   Clay’s wife, Carmen Gomez, taught Williams at Gulf Coast Community College.
   Gomez described Williams as “bubbly” and “full of energy” but said she also possessed enough maturity to be a stage manager and assist backstage.
   “You have to be very responsible and reliable” to perform those duties, Gomez said.
   A vigil was held in Williams’ honor at Gulf Coast on Saturday night after a performance of “Topdog/Underdog.” Clay is the director of that production.
   It was an “opportunity for family and friends that knew and loved her to get together and be together and have that support for each other,” Clay said. “There were a whole bunch of people that knew and loved her. We’re just going to miss her terribly.”

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Thank you, Brady. Now, here is the obituary that appeared in Monday’s paper:

Marisa Joy Williams

 Marisa Joy Williams, 18, of Lynn Haven, Fla., passed away Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008, as a result of an automobile accident.
   Marisa was born Aug. 17, 1989, in Panama City, a daughter of Charles and Donna Toole Williams.
   Marisa was a graduate of Bay High School and Gulf Coast Community College. She was a student at the University of Central Florida, where she majored in technical theatre.
   She loved people and animals and had a genuine love for life. Marisa had been involved in scouting and modeling. She was a member of Springfield Methodist Church. Her family remembers her as always having a smile on her face and a wonderful impact on everyone she met. She was unselfish and giving and never met a stranger. 
   Left to cherish her memories are her parents, Charles and Donna Williams of Lynn Haven; two brothers, David “Bubba” Jeffrey and his wife, Kristin, of Panama City and Joshua Jeffrey of Fountain, Fla.; one sister, Amy Barry and her husband, Russ, of Raiford, Fla.; maternal grandparents, Robert and Teri Toole of Orange Park, Fla.; paternal grandparents, Daylon and Pat Williams of Panama City; paternal greatgrandmother, Myrtle Hardy of Bonifay, Fla.; one nephew, Noah Jeffrey of Panama City; two nieces, Ashley Jeffrey of Raiford, Fla., and Melody Jeffrey of West Linn, Ore.; one aunt, Debbie Toole of Loganville, Ga.; and two cousins, Gabby and Brittnay Herlugson. Marisa also leaves behind her best friend, Nathan Simmons, and his family of Panama City, as well as countless friends.
   She was preceded in death by her maternal grandmother, Betty Scroggin.
   A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008, in the chapel of Kent-Forest Lawn Funeral Home with the Rev. Alan Ferguson presiding. Entombment will follow in the Forest Lawn Chapel of Love Mausoleum. The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, at the funeral home. Active pallbearers will be David Jeffrey, Joshua Jeffrey, Nathan Simmons, Bob Miley, J.V. Stevens and Eric Adams. Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at www.kentforestlawn.com.
Kent-Forest Lawn Funeral Home Panama City, Fla. 32405 2403 Harrison Ave. 763-4694

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Goodbye, sweetheart.

We love you.

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Read an earlier column about Marisa’s move to UCF here. 

See video of Marisa and my daughter and a friend singing the Tony the Tiger song to me.

Click here to read or sign the online guestbook for Marisa’s family.

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