Kelly Marie Rice

A beautiful photo of my darling daughter..

I will forever hold you close and pray for the time we are together in body again..

Kel, you are beautiful, you're so so special and i am so so proud of you darling..
Love you honey..
xxxx
All my love hugs kisses and cuddles forever honey..
Forever
xxxx

Kelly was born on Wednesday 6th July at 9.44pm
She was tragically taken from us on the 17th August 2006

Kelly was 18 yrs and 6 weeks at the time of her being taken.. Kelly was driving home on the 17th
August at 9am.. She was coming home and we were going to collect her A Level results.. Kelly's
beautiful life was soo cruelly torn away from her..
We all love you honey, you'll be in our hearts forever
xxxx

Every minute of the day I am talking in my head to Kelly, she is my constant thought, wish and
dream.. I recall memories from her as a tiny baby, her first smile, chuckle, word, favourite food,
crawl, and stumbling walk.. To an enquiring toddler who could dictate the phonetic alphabet at the
age of 3 and wanted something to do at every given moment..

Kelly had a Wendy house, one of those that you fix together with plastic poles, an I remember her
clutching her cup and her milk in a bottle and trotting off to her Wendy House to make cups of tea..
She’d tip the milk from her bottle and the juice from her cup into her little tea set and would
hand it out to whoever was visiting at the time.. Kelly, at the age of only18 months was such a
hospitable little girl.. ( I have photo’s of her trotting to her wendy house to make these
concoctions of tea)

When Kelly was 20 months, she had a little brother, she wanted to help hold him, bathe him, and feed
him.. Though Kelly wasn’t the only child anymore, it didn’t become a problem.. To Kelly,
looking back, I think it was something else for her to explore..

Kelly and Max.. they were so close.. Not only in age, but everything.. If Kelly was in the
garden, Max would be in hot pursuit, if Kelly was sat with me, an we were reading a book, or
watching one of the Disney videos Max would be at her side.. When we went out with friends and their
children, Kelly and Max would be together.. A group of children were always around.. If you
could spot Kelly, you’d know Max would be at her side.. Wherever we went, whatever we did,
they’d be together.. Kelly had Barbie, Max had action men, though Max was more interested in
Barbie.. (some things don’t change)..

November 1991 Kelly had a little sister.. I’d bathe Naomi, Kelly would bathe her doll.. I’d
feed Naomi, Kelly would put her doll under her jumper to feed it too.. I’d change Naomi’s
nappy, and Kelly would turn away- she didn’t like that part of pretending to be a mum.. I
remember Naomi being asleep in her mosis basket this one time and me being out of the room, on my
return Kelly had climbed up, picked Naomi up and had her on her lap.. I couldn’t quite believe
that she’d managed to do this- and Naomi had slept through the whole experience.. Kelly was only
4 and a half at the time, and though she went to ballet, she wasn’t the most agile, as any other
child of this age.

As a little school girl I remember her being so excited at what had been taught that day and from
the moment I’d collect her from school there would be a bombardment of questions.. Who, what,
where and why were at the top of her vocabulary..
I have each and every school report from 1993 to this year..




Some of the comments from her first teacher were as follows;

“Kelly is a quiet class member with an amusing sense of humour. She is always polite and
well-behaved. She works well and produces work of a high standard”….

Kelly had a competitive nature, and liked to do well in all that she did.. She was never arrogant
about her ability and would get embarrassed with praise when I ‘bigged her up’ in front of
people.
Kelly never, ever gave me cause for concern throughout her education. She loved to learn and to be
taught..

I can remember us going on holiday for the first time to Tenerife, with Kelly’s Nan, Kelly was
nearly 6. Max and Nomi would be off with the rubber rings, buckets and spades and Kelly would also
want to play with them for a while.. She’d find shells or pebbles and make patterns with them,
(maybe this was the start of the pebble fetish)??but then she’d want to read, or draw pictures..
More often than not, Kelly would have her head in a book.. Wherever we went, whatever we did,
she’d want to learn..
Whilst on this holiday Kelly sang on a Karaoke for the first time.. She was so cute, she sang a
song by the Carpenters- Close to You.. The words in this song are so poignant, and each and every
time I listen to this song, it reminds me of her singing it, beautiful, confident, yet so small,
with such an angelic voice..


Kelly was so methodical in all that she did. She’d keep all the little ticket stubs from all the
places we visited, Zoos, Theme parks and cinemas. Kelly would want to keep anything that would
remind her of a place we or she’d been to, and always put her memorabilia somewhere safe. Kelly
has ticket stubs from concerts that she went to, the places she visited in Rome, the tickets saved
off gifts that she’d received.. Anything and everything meant something to her..

When we moved to Ryall I can remember Kelly walking into her bedroom for the first time and ripping
the wallpaper off the walls.. it was Ghost Busters, and she didn’t want it on.. Before we’d
even unpacked the lorry and moved everything into our home, Kelly had more or less stripped her
whole bedroom.. She always knew what she wanted, and never left things that needed to be done..
She got on, and did it, no matter what..

When Kelly became an adolescent the hair changed colour.. (as did the attitude) I can remember her
asking me to dye it for her, and she’d said that it wasn’t permanent and that it wasn’t as
dark as it seemed on the packaging.. I helped dye her hair, and remember getting it everywhere..
Kelly had it all over her neck, ears and forehead.. She spent hours trying to scrub it off with all
sorts of solutions..

Kelly had many friends at the time, quite a few were boys and many a time she’d be chatting to
them outside her bedroom window.. I can remember her first boyfriend and giving the ‘I hope you
aren’t doing anything that you shouldn’t be doing’ chat.. Kelly was quite embarrassed about
this and did fret that I’d do the same again with future boyfriends.. but it didn’t stop them
coming round, I think maybe Kelly warned them that I was a bit of an ogre and to ignore anything I
said..

Kelly had her first little job at the age of 14.. I can remember going with her for the interview
and talking for her to the landlord.. Kelly overcame being shy and worked as a waitress in a pub
within Upton.

I can remember going there for a meal and Kelly serving us.. I’d watch her scurrying around from
table to table, and always being so polite.. Kelly was only 14, she worked so hard for anything
that she wanted.. She didn’t ever expect anything to be handed to her, she had a bit of
independence and loved it..

Kelly always had a little part time job from this age, she went from being a waitress, to a
domestic, to a shop assistant.. Kelly would never think of giving it up and bumming around.. she
was always so responsible..

Kelly was looking forward to life after 6th Form.. She’d decided that she’d like to go to
University and she had told me that Linda and Kelly had many discussions about her future and what
it would hold.. I know that Kelly confided in Linda a lot, and that Linda, plus other teachers held
a special place within her heart..

During the summer, Kelly had mentioned that she may have a year out, to work and save. She’d also
said that if she didn’t get the results she needed she’d apply again the following year.. Kelly
was never fazed by anything.. She planned for everything, and would always think of what she could
do if things didn’t go according to plan..

Kelly is the most precious, caring, hard working, loving person I know. As Kelly grew from a tiny
baby, a toddler, a little school girl, an adolescent, a beautiful young lady and my best friend my
love grew too.. This will always be, my love for Kelly will never stop..


We don’t have my wonderful daughter to look up to in body, to admire, to love and be loved by..
Kelly’s future, her dreams and aspirations have been so cruelly torn from her.. I yearn every
moment of everyday for her to be home and living the life that she so much loved and enjoyed..
I’d do anything for her to be here with us. Anything..
But what we do have, is each and everyone of our cherished memories.. And I, like I’m sure all of
you, will hold on to her through these, forever.. Kelly will live in my heart and mind through
everything we do.. She will be at our sides, and we’ll smile at the wonderful, beautiful memories
that she has given us.. We will always miss her, and wish she was here as we are.. But again,
though we may not be able to see or touch her, she will live in our hearts forever..

Thank you so, so much Kelly, for making me the happiest proudest mum in the world.. I love you so
much.. Thank you for everything honey..