Shelby Danaye Bates

Our daughter Shelby was a fun loving freshman in high school.  She was always laughing and playing jokes on someone.  She was a great big sister to Jaden always bringing her in her bedroom to watch Harry Potter movies and eat popcorn together.  Shelby loved to read, she always had her nose in a book.  It is so ironic that the only organ we were able to donate to Gift of Life were her eyes.  Now she’s given the gift of eyesight to someone so that they can enjoy reading too!  Shelby loved making home movies, she was so proud of them.  She would spend hours on them with her friends and then proudly share them with us.  She had a saying tacked on her bedroom door that we noticed after her death that read “So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt, because every 60 seconds you spend angry or upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back.”  A wonderful life lesson from a 14-year-old girl.