Friends remember Northside senior Natalie Pegram

Nearly two weeks after Natalie Elizabeth Pegram died in an auto crash in Fayetteville, Tenn., family and friends from Northside High School gathered at Pierce Chapel United Methodist

Church Thursday in Midland to celebrate her birthday.

The sanctuary of the church was filled with about 180 students, teachers, family members and friends of the 17-year-old senior. She was remembered as a friend, president of the Japanese Club and one who loved singing in the Advanced Women's Chorus and learning new languages.

Elizabeth Harmon, Natalie's mother, recalled how her daughter was a survivor from an early age. As an infant, she had a cyst removed from her cheek. People around her never realized it. "People said 'I didn't know she had one,'" her mother said. "Her personality kind of overcame that."

Natalie's biggest fight ever came when she was 9 years old, when tests revealed her spine was curving in a condition called scoliosis. Natalie was first placed in a medieval-looking brace to help with the condition, but she eventually had surgery.

Just to get through the day, Natalie had to take pills to fight the pain. "What they didn't tell you is surgery is hell," Harmon said. "They cut her spine and she wanted to die at one point. I walked her around the house every night to keep her moving. She went back to school not completely healed, but she just endured and got through it."

Over the last couple of years, Harmon said, Natalie lived the most fulfilling life. "I think you guys who knew her would agree that she was really blessed and lived her life to the fullest," she said.

After high school, Natalie had plans to attend Columbus State University or Georgia State, where she would study international business and go to Japan as a translator.

Nikki Hill is in college now, but she will never forget how the two became friends in Japanese class at Northside. Hill was in class and realized another student was reacting wildly after seeing a picture from the video game "The Legend of Zelda" in her book binder. It was created by Japanese game designers.

"She said, 'You like "The Legend of Zelda." Yes, we are friends now,'" Hill recalled Natalie's reaction. "Ever since then, we've been close, close friends."

Hill appeared at the celebration with her hair dyed blue, the same as Natalie's, which appeared in a video tribute to the student.

Hill said she was proud to know that Natalie was president of the Japanese Club this year. The two had so much in common, Hill said they would sometime shout the same words or start laughing together. "She was my life," Hill said. "We were so similar."

Naomi Wolfe flew from her college in Texas for the celebration. She said the two met on the school bus and realized they lived down the street from one another.

"I can't think of a single memory of Natalie when we weren't laughing," Wolfe said. "She was a very happy, bubbly person. We got into trouble once on the bus for laughing so hard and taking selfies."

Before the celebration started, Thomas Wright said he met Natalie in art class four years ago. He choked back tears thinking about her. "If you didn't meet her in person, you couldn't get the full dose of her personality," he said. "It was just so much. It hurts really bad."

Natalie's mother encouraged students to take a wallet-size photo of Natalie to remember her. There was a birthday cake in her honor and punch.

The service ended with the lighting of candles and release of lanterns.

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Friends remember Northside senior Natalie Pegram."