Little remembered for civic engagement, passion for others
Nearly one week ago, a paycheck arrived for Starkville’s Lake Little, her first from the Mississippi Air National Guard, on Saturday, the same day a plane crash claimed her life.
Her father, David Little, said when Lake first told him last year she wanted to enlist, he wondered if she would go through with it and was proud when she was sworn in on June 5, just days before her death.
“She wanted to serve her state and country,” he said. “She truly had a servant’s heart and made others feel special and valued. She never got to see her paycheck, but she would have been so proud.”
As a beauty queen, a pilot and a volunteer, service seemed to be in Lake’s blood, especially considering her father’s work as an alderman in Starkville. For Lake, however, service was a passion.
She even created an organization called Reading Matters to read to others, partially as a response to struggles she experienced with reading as a child in early elementary school.
A tutor helped her as a child overcome those struggles, providing fuel for Lake’s desire to return the favor, resulting in her desire to study speech pathology.
“She loved serving others, particularly reading to young and elderly with Reading Matters,” David said. “She would often read to children at Brickfire, Campus Book Mart, Emerson and The Claiborne.”
Lake’s brother Patton Little said his sister was always trying to place herself in the action, no matter what was going on. Even when she was young, Patton said Lake was as involved in the community as a child could be.
“Even when she wasn’t doing anything, she wanted to be involved,” Patton said. “She was the baby, but she was always trying to keep up with everyone else.”
Her other brother, Layton Little, remembered Lake begging to cut the grass with her brothers when they were kids, despite her being too young to do so. When she grew up a little more, she was finally allowed the privilege of working the mower.
“She didn’t like it very much,” Layton said.
Years later, the Friday night before her final day, Layton and Lake had a conversation about Googling themselves, to see what results came up. Lake was distraught because her name would only yield photos of small bodies of water under the images tab.
In the days following her death, Layton Googled his sister’s name, and photos of
Lake had replaced the pictures of water from just days before.
“She always talked about making it big, having a bunch of people know her name,” Layton said.
As well-known as Lake was in Starkville, she managed to touch the lives of people beyond the city. During her Spring Break this year and last year, Lake took mission trips outside of the country to Belize with her church — First Baptist Church of Starkville.
Neil Tullos was Lake’s youth pastor and accompanied her to Belize. Tullos said Lake was a natural leader among the congregation.
“She was a big part of encouraging, recruiting other people to come with us,” Tullos said. “Lake was always able to get people to move in whatever direction she wanted them to. Lake could make anybody feel important.”
The trips lasted a week each year, but in that short time, Lake left an impact.
The church’s local contact, a pastor in the Central American country, somehow heard about Lake. He and his two daughters managed to reach out to the Little family and Tullos to offer their condolences.
This did not surprise David Little, as he knew Lake had a gift for sharing her love of God with anyone who would listen.
“There were times when she set an example for me to follow,” David said. “I was looking at her Bible a few days ago and noticed how worn and frayed it was and all of the highlighted scriptures and immediately felt that I need to be more like her. I think others felt that same way.”
Tullos would joke that Lake was going to be “the first Chief of Staff at the White House with her own fashion line.”
Tullos said Lake never allowed her age to hold her back.
“With teenagers, they’ll often say ‘one day I’ll get old enough to chase my dreams,’” Tullos said. “Lake never said that. With Lake, it’s just grief for the world. We’re missing out on what she would’ve accomplished in her later years.”
Lake’s dreams were tied to the sky, as she wanted to fly planes.
Pilot and Civil Air Patrol member Trey Breckenridge guided Lake after she got the “aviation bug.”
“She would light up when you would talk about aviation or flying,” Breckenridge said. “If there was an opportunity to fly, she wanted to be involved.”
Breckenridge recalled an event last year where Civil Air Patrol cadets had the opportunity to take rides in military aircraft, C-130 transporters and Chinook helicopters.
Breckenridge said despite her passion for flying, she still put others first.
“I asked her after the event did she get to ride in them,” Breckenridge said. “She did not, she said they did not have enough slots for everybody to go, and since she got to fly other times, she gave up her slot to other cadets so they could experience flying.”
Aside from flying, Lake was known to dance, and sing if “Fergalicious” was playing. David Little said although her loss feels surreal, he knows she’s at peace.
“I will always think about the times she talked with me about walking her down the aisle one day and the crazy dance that she planned for us to do,” David said. “I will always think of what might have been and wonder, but I know without question that she is with our Lord and that gives me peace. It does not help the pain I am currently feeling. There are no words, and I know there will be no end. What I do know is that I will see her again one day. She was my heart.”