DALLAS — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Texas Tribune. Read the original article here.
No matter how hard RJ Harber tried to stay positive, the week leading up to what would have been his youngest daughter’s 12th birthday challenged him. Friday was Halloween, when his two daughters would normally go trick-or-treating with friends. Sunday was All Souls’ Day, when the deacon of their church read the names of both girls among a list of those in the parish who had passed away that year.
On the following Thursday — Brooke Harber’s birthday — the school dedicated benches to Brooke and her 13-year-old sister Blair, who died with their grandparents in the July 4 flood while the family was vacationing in Central Texas. The girls’ friends painted the benches with symbols of things they loved: a soccer ball, a lacrosse ball and cat prints for Brooke; a puppy pawprint, flowers and a cross for Blair. Brooke’s classmates ate red velvet cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes — her favorite…