By Staff
Jonathan Willis
James Pharr will always miss Chelsey Briana Hacker's smiling face inside the halls at Vina High School.
Her "cheerful nature and sweet spirit," which always warmed those around her, will forever be missed, said Pharr, the school's principal.
Hacker, 16, of 4744 Franklin 23 in Vina, was killed in a one-car accident Thursday evening about one-half mile from Vina on Blue Creek Road.
She was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:45 p.m. by Franklin Coroner Elzie Malone.
A passenger in Hacker's vehicle, 14-year-old Chris Sellers, was slightly injured, officials said.
Authorities said that Hacker swerved to miss an animal in the road and lost control of the vehicle, which slid off the roadway and struck a tree. Hacker, a 10th-grader at Vina High School, was traveling north on Blue Creek Road and the 1993 Chevrolet Corsica she was driving went off the western side of the roadway.
"She was a pleasure to be around," Pharr said. "She was the kind of kid that had everything together and was never in any kind of trouble. There are a lot of people here that will miss her.
"She was very likeable, smart and very intelligent. Everybody liked her. She's one of those flowers that we will never get to see bloom and that's just a shame."
Pharr said counselors from the state trooper's office and the school spoke with her classmates Friday.
"Superintendent Gary Williams and the board have been very supportive and helped us as much as possible," Pharr said.
Pharr said in such a small community like Vina, a tragic event such as this hurts the entire community.
"Everyone here knows each other," he said. "They are like our own kids. I know that I will be praying for her family and for God to take care of them through this time."
Hacker's brother, Zachary, is a fifth grade student at the school.