Facebook friends of slain 9-year-old’s mother take action

In Tucson, the memorial for Christina Taylor Green continues to grow by the hour at Mesa Verde Elementary. Hand-drawn signs, ribbons and balloons are fastened to the schoolyard fence. Votive candles burn day and night.

"Christina We Will Miss You!" one poster exclaims. "You Are Our Family," reads another.

Tucson is stricken with heartache. The national community mourns from a distance.

The story of the 9-year-old girl slain Saturday with five others continues to reverberate. The child had big dreams and goals, which included an interest in politics and a plan to enter public service. That's what brought her to the Safeway for the constituent meet-and-greet with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

In Las Vegas, sisters Judy Reppart and Joan Rogers were staggered by the news. Back in the early 1980s at Tucson's Canyon Del Oro High, the twins were friends with Roxanne Green, Christina's mother. Roxanne was one of the popular girls, Judy recalls. They ran in different cliques, but Roxanne went out of her way to be a friend.

The girls drifted apart after their 1983 graduation. They found their own families, had their own children. And then a strange thing happened a couple of years ago.

Their friendship was rekindled, not through the traditional method, not by a high school class reunion, but in the new-fashioned way through Facebook. It was through the social networking site, with its emphasis on photo sharing, that the three high school friends renewed their acquaintance and got to know one another's families. That was how Judy and Joan came to meet Christina, a sweet little dark-haired girl with bright, inquisitive eyes.

"When we started our Facebook accounts, we learned that she and her husband had a Facebook account together," Judy says. "They asked us to be their friends. We started communicating, sharing pictures about our kids and everything."

They had all grown up, but in a way it was just like back in high school. Roxanne was still their friend.

"She was one of the popular girls, and we both looked up to her," Judy says. "She was very friendly to us."

When the news out of Tucson mentioned Christina Taylor Green's name, their spirits sunk.

"It just broke our hearts," Judy says. "Being a mother myself, I just can't imagine what Roxanne is going through right now."

"I don't know how they can go on right now," Joan says, emotion filling her voice.

At first, the sisters found themselves at a loss for what to do to help the family. Then they devised a plan with other high school friends to create a fundraising account that would help ensure the child's memory and, perhaps, help ease the parents' agony if only in the slightest way. They started the Christina Taylor Green Memorial Fund through Wells Fargo Bank.

Money raised will be devoted to the study of government at Christina's elementary school. Or, they add, whatever her parents desire.

"I'd like the kids to continue to know about Christina and how involved she was in her school," Joan says. "I'd like the kids to be able to have the money for the tools to learn their school council politics the right way. When one of them grows up to be president or senator, I want them to say, 'I knew that kid.' I want Christina's memory to live on."

Judy and Joan acknowledge there will be other memorial funds and other ways to give. But they also want their old friend Roxanne to know her friends from the Class of 1983 are thinking about her at a time of heartbreak and sorrow.

Joan's voice catches as she says, "We want them to know that we love them, and we're so sorry for their loss."

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.