Fairport, N.Y. – “She was the light of my life and a huge part of my life."Some say it gets easier with time.
For Stephanie Shirley, time has only magnified her sorrow.
"The pain gets more difficult, you realize all that she's missing and all that you're missing with her. I've found it becomes more difficult. I miss her more and more each day,” said Stephanie Shirley, Katie Shirley’s mother.
Shirley's only child Katie Shirley was one of five killed in a horrific car crash on their way to Keuka Lake for a trip.
The girls had just graduated from Fairport High School; they would have graduated from college this year.
"It's the passages of time that kind of freeze you, the thought of having grandchildren was always in my future, my life's path has completely changed,” Shirley said.
Shirley has since channeled her pain and suffering through creativity with Katie's Closet, an organization that sells and makes jewelry, raising money for Daystar.
"I was desperate for something good to come out of losing her."
Shirley says she also relies on her faith and family.
She placed a bouquet of flowers and a plaque that reads, ‘Angels gather here,’ on the altar of her church.
"They were great girls and we just want to remember them,” she said.
Whether or not time will heal her wounds, Shirley doesn't know, but what she does know.
"I know she's safe, that's the greatest gift I have, I know she's safe and in a better place."
