Laura Grace Conroy

1991 - 2016

LAURA CONROY, 25

ATHENS - Laura Grace Conroy, 25, passed away on October 30th. She leaves her mother, Liz; her father, Mike; her sister, Mary; brother-in-law, Lorenzo Almada; her maternal grandmother Mary Constance (Carman) Sekerak; and a huge array of devastated friends and extended family. She was predeceased by her maternal grandfather Nicholas M. Sekerak; and paternal grandparents James Raymond and Edith Mary (Corbett) Conroy.

Laura was a light that burned too bright for the world. She saw the beauty in it more clearly than most and felt its joys and its pains without a filter.

She was born at home in Jackson County on the beautiful afternoon of June 15, 1991, near the banks of Bear Creek. She was named after their midwife, Laura Darnell. For seven years, Laura was surrounded by forest, played in the creek, and splashed with her sister and friends in the nearby swimming hole before they had to leave. The Conroy family moved to Kenney Ridge in Athens in December 1998 due to the reservoir construction.

After several years of homeschooling, she attended Athens Montessori School and then Clarke Central High School, graduating in the spring of 2010. As a high schooler she began taking lessons at Canopy Studio on Tracy Street in Athens where she became an outstanding aerialist and then trained to become an instructor.

Laura taught children, teens, and adults that they're capable of more than they ever thought they were. As a performer, she showed that Canopy had taught her the same thing. She broke her arm in a bicycle accident last fall, yet continued to teach while she healed. Fearless and determined, she came right back with a slow, stunning solo trapeze piece. Last weekend, she and two friends astounded many in Athens with a celebratory, gravity-defying triples pole piece. In the last two years she started and taught an outreach program of free classes for underserved kids from the Pinewoods community and organized Canopy's flourishing pole dance program.

She added beauty and brightness to the lives of everyone she touched -- her students, their families, neighbors, old friends, and people she just met. She worked hard but also believed in the fundamental importance of play. She thoroughly enjoyed word games with groups of friends, and we'll never see another person go so far in their use of props during charades. She loved every dog and especially loved taking the family's rescue dogs, Rosy, Emmy, and Autumn, to frolic in the river. She'd stand joyfully in the rushing water with the dogs splashing around her.

Her adventures had her playing in the waves of Guatemala, cowering in lightning storms on Mexican mountains, and sipping wine in the parks of Buenos Aires. She hitchhiked thousands of miles with her partner Adam and made friends everywhere along the way. She always stopped to talk to kids, in English or Spanish, because children simply flocked to her. And when the kids of Athens saw her, they would tug excitedly on their parents' arms, giddy at seeing a minor celebrity and wondering what it meant that Miss Laura also existed outside of Canopy.

Laura had strong convictions and lived according to them with unrelenting tenacity. She was committed to making her community and her world a brighter and kinder place. She succeeded far more than she realized. She has so many lessons to leave for us, and none is more important than this: be kind to one another. Care, and show that you care. Tell the people you love that you love them. And care about people you don't know, too. The banana pickers of Guatemala, the undocumented workers of Florida and Athens, the humans in malarial regions of Uganda, the Athenians discriminated against in their hometown, and the women denied their reproductive rights across the South. Their struggle was Laura's, and it's ours too.

As a child, she was immersed in community as a "Land Girl" of Kenney Ridge. She loved nature and all its creatures: sloths, snakes, birds -- especially the Great Blue Heron -- and chickens, and her pet rats. Her days were full of climbing, smiling, reading, and hugging. She traveled through many countries with her family, and experimented with a variety of hobbies, including horseback riding, soccer, theater, and electric guitar. As a teen, Laura listened to Nana Grizol, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, and all the emo. She spent late nights exploring our crazy world in this crazy, creative town that she loved so much. She studied Spanish and linguistics at UGA and graduated with honors in December 2015.

Laura was fortunate to be born into a close, loving family who gave her the wings to fly and cheered her on as she charted her own path. She cherished conversations about food ethics with her mom and dad, Liz and Mike. They spent long hours in the woods together, and she never lost the love of nature they instilled in her. She adored her sister Mary, whose achievements and ability earned her unwavering admiration.

Laura, Adam, and their close friends were like a family as well, committed to living out their ideals and building a life together. She even saved Adam's life when he fell down a mountain in Argentina. With that family of friends, she filled her days with ridiculous laughs, long talks, rescued meals, and shared love.

Her Canopy family filled her with unending wonder, gratitude, and love. She gave all of herself to her students and was completely invested in how to use dance and community to help them feel confident, creative, and loved. She made us all so much better, and her example will continue making us kinder, more tender, and more engaged with the world.

The world has lost one of its best vessels for communicating its beauty with us. We'll never be the same. But we are so glad, so thankful, that Laura got to live this bold, brilliant life, and that we got to experience so much of it by her side. Our world is a better place because she was here, and it's on us to keep making it better with her in our hearts.

We love you so, so, so much Laura.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Laura Conroy Memorial Fund at Canopy Studio.

http://www.lauraconroymemorialfund.com/

Bridges Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. www.bridgesfuneral.com 1991 - 2016