PORT ANGELES — The assembly during the first day back from summer break will take a somber tone at Stevens Middle School today.
Principal Chuck Lisk said faculty will talk to the eighth-graders, after dismissing the seventh- grade students, about the unexplained death of student Lillian Star Taylor.
The 13-year-old girl, who was entering the eight grade, was found dead in a tent last Friday morning at the Tumbling Rapids Campground off U.S. Highway 101 near Beaver.
No cause of death has been determined. The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office is awaiting results of an autopsy and toxicology reports.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office is treating her death as suspicious because of her age, but foul play is not suspected.
Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that the toxicology report could take four to six weeks.
The autopsy report should be finished early next week, he said.
The teen was camping with her mother, Brenda Lesh of Port Angeles, and two friends of her mother’s, Moores said.
Lisk said the Steven Middle School staff during today’s assembly will let the students know that there are counselors available for them to speak with.
“We want to hear how they feel, recognize their grief and provide an outlet for it,” he said.
The principal said two counselors from the Olympic Education Service District will be on hand.
Lisk described Taylor as a “positive, good student” who “enjoyed life and tried to make the best out of all situations.”
Anne Burns, the district’s prevention and treatment center coordinator, said counselors are always a good idea when a student dies, not just those for those who knew them, but those students who may have had a family member or friend die recently.
“Sometimes a death likes this can bring up events for kids that don’t know this young woman,” Burns said. “It can bring up other deaths they’ve experienced.”
She said there’s “no magic to” helping students handle grief; some just need someone to talk to about it.
“It’s just another means of support for students and help them get back to doing what they need to be doing in schools,” she said.
A celebration of life for Taylor is planned at 10 a.m. Saturday at Bethany Pentecostal Church, 508 S. Francis St.
Memorial contributions can be made to Strait View Credit Union, 220 S. Lincoln St.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@ peninsuladailynews.com.
