Fake Obituary

She had what we liked to call, a "passion for fashion" said Lee Cooper, the grandmother of Erin Copeland. "She always dreamed about working in the fashion industry and having fashion be a major part of her life."

Copeland was only 19 when mother nature took her away. She was a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire studying journalism in hopes of one day being a writer for a major fashion magazine.

"English and writing were always her best subjects in school, but her passion for fashion directed and narrowed her writing to something she has always loved," said Andra Copeland, the mother of the teenager. "She was always a good student in our eyes, and she was just a good kid, you know one of those kids that never got involved with the wrong crowd or got involved in bad things."

Copeland was born and grew up in Long Island, New York. Her parents moved her and her brother when she was 12 to a small town in New Hampshire where she had a hard time adjusting to her new life.

"She hated it here," Andra said. "But over the years she came to love New Hampshire and the ways of life here. She was always interested in new places and culture."

Copeland's grandmother helped submerge Copeland into the outside world. Cooper and her husband were the ones who took her on her exotic vacations. Because of her grandparents, Copeland was able to travel to many places that kids her age have never been.

"At first, she didn't want to go to South Africa. She though it would be boring" Cooper said. "She knew she was wrong, though, after a few days there. She didn't want to leave when it was time to come back home."

Traveling was a big part of Copeland's life, and something she had wanted to continue throughout the rest of her life.

Since she was a baby, her parents had taken her to the Cayman Islands almost once every year up until she passed. Cayman was her spot; somewhere she looked forward to every year.

"I'm sure that if she was still with us, she would be talking about the next vacation we should take, and trying to convince us of some crazy place to go next," Andra said.

"This is one of the things I loved about Erin," said Randi Krzesinski, a long-time friend of Copeland. "Whenever she would go on a vacation, she would always bring back a souvenier for me and her other close friends. Even small trips to other states, she never once stopped thinking about her friends," Krzesinski said.

Deanna Scott, a good friend of Copeland's said Copeland was always someone she could talk to about anything, and someone who meant alot to her.

"Erin was always, always there for me. If I called her with a problem or advice, she was always able to listen and help me out," Scott said. "And she wasn't just there when I needed her. She would call me up and say 'let's do something spontaneous' and we would go out and do random things around town, but we loved it."

Copeland's friends and family will remember Copeland for the fashionista she was, and the good friend that she has been throughout her life.