Family, friends, fans remember

Dozens of people gathered throughout Southwestern Community College’s softball field Tuesday night to remember the lives of students Halsie Barnes and Ella Leonard.

The two were fatalities in a two-car crash Friday east of Afton on U.S. Highway 34. Barnes, a Mount Ayr High School graduate, was a member of the Southwestern softball team. She was a freshman on the team last school year. Leonard, from Winterset, was a member of the Southwestern dance team. She was a sophomore on the team last school year.

Southwestern softball coach Danny Jensen said he came to the vigil with a “broken heart” knowing his history with Mount Ayr and his time with Barnes on the team. His teaching career included a stop in Mount Ayr in 1978.

Jensen listed several adjectives to describe Barnes including happy, fun, coach-on-the-field, help others and “never had a bad day.”

Jensen also knows reality will set in when the school year starts late next month and fall softball soon after.

“I want to look to my right and see Halsie,” he said. Jensen spoke near the pitcher’s circle, with members of the team standing behind him in support.

“This is our family,” he said about the program.

Assistant coach Tessa Otto said Barnes never had a dull moment and rarely addressed the coaches by using the word coach,

“Hey girl,” Otto said was a common way for Barnes to greet her.

Otto said Barnes was motivating to others, and picked up the others when they were struggling.

“Play like Halsie,” she said.

Southwestern dance team coach Paige Busch commented on the time she and the team had with Leonard.

Busch said Leonard will be remembered for her interest in coffee, the tendency for her to nearly miss the bus to leave for events and her fear of falling during practices and competitions. Busch said Leonard also paid attention to the occasional spit, and its comical effects, that happened during dance routines.

Busch said there was a more serious side to Leonard. Leonard was a nursing student at Southwestern and Leonard was listed as an organ donor.

“Ella has always talked about helping others and saving lives as she as attending Southwestern to become a nurse. When she was old enough to get her license she took it upon herself to be a registered organ donor. As she also encouraged her younger sister Ava to become one when she got her permit. Little did we know God had other places for Ella and now she is saving many lives through the honor of being a donor,” Busch said.

“She will be a forever missing piece,” Busch said about Leonard and Southwestern dance program.