Dallas Morning News: Tuesday, November 27, 2001

By HOLLY WARREN
Staff Writer

   Ashley Jean O'Rear, who had been selected as a 2002 Olympic torchbearer, died Saturday at her Waxahachie home after a four-year battle with cancer. She was 14.
   Services will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Waxahachie Civic Center, 1950 N. Interstate 35E at State Highway 287 in Waxahachie. Burial will follow at Mount Peak Cemetery in Midlothian.
   Ashley was nominated as a torchbearer because of the strength and spirit she showed through her illness, said her father, Paul O'Rear of Waxahachie. She was scheduled to carry the torch Dec. 12. Her father said he or his son, Justin, will cany the torch in Ashley's memory.
   Olympic freestyle skiing champion Nikki Stone presented Ashley with her own 2002 torch Nov. 19, the same day the Olympic torch was lit in Greece.
   Ashley participated in many school activities, including Future Farmers of America; Future Homemakers of America; the One-Act Play team; Drama Club; choir; Student Council; yearbook staff; city league basketball; and Girl Scouts.

<<< Previous	The Dallas Morning News		Tuesday, November 27, 2001


By HOLLY WARREN Staff Writer Ashley Jean O'Rear, who had been selected as a 2002 Olympic torchbearer, died Saturday at her Waxahachie home after a four-year battle with cancer. She was 14. Services will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Waxahachie Civic Center, 1950 N. Interstate 35E at State Highway 287 in Waxahachie. Burial will follow at Mount Peak Cemetery in Midlothian. Ashley was nominated as a torchbearer because of the strength and spirit she showed through her illness, said her father, Paul O'Rear of Waxahachie. She was scheduled to carry the torch Dec. 12. Her father said he or his son, Justin, will cany the torch in Ashley's memory. Olympic freestyle skiing champion Nikki Stone presented Ashley with her own 2002 torch Nov. 19, the same day the Olympic torch was lit in Greece. Ashley participated in many school activities, including Future Farmers of America; Future Homemakers of America; the One-Act Play team; Drama Club; choir; Student Council; yearbook staff; city league basketball; and Girl Scouts.

		"She didn't sit still. Even when she was sick, she couldn't sit still," Mr. O'Rear said. Ashley was first found to have a brain tumor in 1997 at age 9. After surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, it seemed she had beaten the disease. An MRI on Sept. 11 showed the tumor had returned. In addition to her father and brother, Justin, Ashley is survived by her mother, Susan O'Rear; and		grandmothers, Bettie O'Rear of Bryan, Texas, and Laverne Moore of Manor, Texas. Memorials may be made to the Ashley O'Rear Fund at Citizens National Bank in Waxahachie; Future Farmers of America; South Ellis County 4-H Club; American Cancer Society; the Make-a-Wish Foundation; or the Clayton Dabney Foundation for Kids with Cancer.