School mourns loss of two girls killed in seperate accidents

By HEATHER PYLES, Staff Writer

Somerset — It’s been a strange, sad week at Pulaski Central High School.

“They (the students) have just been really ... quiet,” said Central Principal Dan Price. “They’re not expressing a lot of emotion right now.”

The little more than 100 students at the school are struggling to deal with the loss of not one of their peers, but two — 16-year-old Bailey Haynes and 17-year-old Kaitlyn Griffin.

Both girls were tragically killed within a span of four days.

Haynes died on Sunday after she was involved in a two-vehicle car accident south of Burnside. Officials said the accident occurred when Haynes’ vehicle — owned by the passenger who was with her when the incident happened — collided head-on with another vehicle on U.S. 27. She died of blunt force injuries to the head and chest area.

The loss was felt immediately in the halls of Central.

“She (Bailey) was outgoing all the way,” said fellow Central student Haley Hatfield, 17, who had classes with both Haynes and Griffin. “She would tell you exactly how it was.

“She was hilarious,” Hatfield continued.

According to her obituary, Haynes “loved shopping, eating out and hanging out with her many friends.”

But the tragedy wouldn’t end there.

Griffin died from severe head injuries Wednesday on Jasper Street in Somerset after she was struck by a massive tree that was snapped in two by high winds. She was six months pregnant at the time, and her unborn baby, Nicholas Ayden Steele, was killed as well.

Hatfield said Griffin, known as a smart, ambitious girl, was a bit quieter than Haynes, but was “one of the sweetest people” who was extremely close to her mother. Hatfield cheered with Griffin at Pulaski County High School before the two transferred to Central. A young mother herself, Hatfield said she’d often find herself talking to Griffin about the other girl’s pregnancy — and her excitement at her approaching due date in March.

“She (Kaitlyn) was an only child, and he (Nicholas) was going to be her only grandchild,” Hatfield said, about Griffin’s mother, Rhonda Middleton Griffin. “She lost both in one day.”

According to Griffin’s obituary, she loved children and “she enjoyed walks and exploring creeks, four wheeling, movies, eating out, computers, and the outdoors.” The 17-year-old had also been on the track team at PCHS.

Griffin was in the process of moving into an apartment in the Colonial Village area when the accident happened. Price said he and other staff members had made plans to give Griffin and her mother food items to help keep their move a smooth one and to help ease any financial difficulties.

The loss of two young girls so quickly has raised questions at Central on the part of the students, especially since many of them interacted with the girls on a daily basis. Grief counselors have been at the school all week to help the students “express their emotions,” Price said.

“They’re having some emotional issues,” Price said. “But they don’t know how to express them.”

Those counselors have proven an invaluable tool during a difficult time, said Sonya Wilds, assistant superintendent for Pulaski County Schools.

“Our grief counselors have done a tremendous job this week helping students and staff process through events that are hard to accept and impossible to fully understand,” Wilds said.

But, perhaps most importantly, Price said the students have developed an “appreciation for one another,” having learned that lives can be cut short suddenly.

Price said Griffin finished earning her high school diploma on Tuesday, the day before she was killed. She dropped by the school early Wednesday to pick up her transcript.

“She said that she’d be back,” Price said.

But the school’s students and staff would soon find out that she wouldn’t return to tie up any loose ends.

“Anytime we lose a student it deeply affects a school community,” Wilds said. “It impacts other students who were their friends and peers as well as teachers and other adults who worked with them.”

Price said two staff members who worked closely with Griffin to help her earn her diploma quickly were particularly saddened by the girl’s death.

“They were just real distraught,” he said.

The school’s teachers and staff members work individually with their students, who may have transferred into the alternative school under extenuating circumstances, such as problems with truancy, problems with academic achievement, or adjustment issues.

“It (earning her diploma) gave her (Kaitlyn) hope that maybe her life was on a better track,” Price said.

It’s through that individualized treatment that the school’s staff have come to know each student who attends Central — and it makes it even more difficult when a student’s life is suddenly cut short.

But the loss of two young people is a tragedy for an entire school system as well, Wilds said.

“Any loss is a tragic event but losing two promising young ladies days apart and during the holiday season adds layers of difficult emotions to an already very sad time,” Wilds said.

Price said a significant number of Central students did not attend at least part of Thursday’s classes to attend Haynes’ funeral. He said many students plan on attending Griffin’s funeral as well.

Visitation for Griffin will be Sunday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. at Lake Cumberland Funeral Home.

Funeral service will be held on Monday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. at Science Hill United Methodist Church. Burial will be in the Lakeside Memorial Gardens.

A memorial fund has been established for Griffin and her son. The family requests expressions of sympathy be made to the Kaitlyn Adrianna Griffin Memorial Fund c/ o Lake Cumberland Funeral Home.

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