In an email to parents at Manhattan High School, Avery Melling was identified as the 17-year-old girl who died in a rollover crash on Cameron Bridge Road the morning of Christmas Eve.
Avery was ejected from her vehicle after she reportedly lost control of her Nissan Xterra on icy roads that morning. She was a junior at Manhattan High School and a Manhattan Tigers cheerleader.
I spoke with Avery's mother and father, Ray and Laura Melling, on Friday afternoon.
They described Avery as a force to be reckoned with, who, despite experiencing trauma as a young child, embraced life and lived it to the fullest.
Moving on from the darkness she experienced, they say Avery was a goofball who made everyone laugh, that she loved adventure and taking her friends along with her.
Ray and Laura say Avery was planning to go to welding school before the accident took her life.
They told me that Avery loved sunsets and sunrises. And sharing a photo of the sunrise the morning of her passing, they say she was welcomed into heaven by a beautiful sky.
