‘I know she’s with God.’ 8-year-old tornado victim was ‘diva’ dancer who dreamed of fame
At 8 years old, Mykhayla Waldon already knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: famous.
“That’s all she would say,” her mother Tyesha Hart told the Ledger-Enquirer.
She loved glitter and was an avid dancer from 6 years old. Her chosen style was “new age majorette,” a fast-paced, energetic dance that has its roots in traditional majorettes who accompany marching bands.
Mykhayla also loved to read and help out around the house, especially with cooking, Tyesha said.
“She was helpful,” Tyesha said. “She was very sassy and she loved family.”
Mykhayla was one of 23 Beauregard, Alabama, residents killed in a tornado on March 3, 2019. She along with her mother and two younger sisters lived at a home on Lee Road 39, one of the hardest hit areas.
Born on July 29, 2010, in Opelika, Mykhayla is the oldest of Tyesha’s three girls and had the closest relationship with sister Ariel. They loved to dance together and play with sister Kamorah.
“She was herself and she was a beautiful, beautiful child. ... I’m really thankful that I was her mother, that I was chosen to be her mother because she taught me so much,” Tyesha said. “She was my first child. We grew together.”
She was the kid at the bus stop in the morning that parents waved to as they drove by. The one who neighbors often saw playing in her front yard. But residents still kept to themselves for the most part, Tyesha said.
That changed after the tornado.
“Everybody in Beauregard lost something,” she said. “You could be going to the store and now people say, ’Hey how you doing,’ really pay attention to everybody. Before, it was just quiet. ... Now the community is more generous and has more empathy and sympathy for people.”
In the year since the tornado, Tyesha has dealt with her grief by staying busy and sharing memories of Mykhayla with her daughters. Last summer, she opened a dance studio in the same building where Mykhayla took classes and hired the same coaches who taught her daughter.
It’s called Royal House of Klass — with a “K” in honor of her daughter.
“I know she’s with God and with all that’s going on in this world today I just look at it like, he picked his flower because she really was too good to be here. The world did not deserve her,” Tyesha said.
Mykhayla is on her mind all of the time, she said. Anything from a song on the radio to watching her children reminds her of her “diva.”
Knowing her children will grow up without their oldest sister is one of the hardest things Tyesha battles with. But she embraces Mykhayla’s memory by letting her children talk openly about her — something they do often.
“My kids know God, they know about death ... I taught them when someone dies they go to heaven with Jesus and that’s their home but we can’t see them but they are always here with us,” she said. “We can’t hear them but they can always hear us. That’s the magic of Jesus and God’s angels.”
“They know she’s an angel now and they know she’s in Heaven now.”
Along with the dance studio, Tyesha hopes to further honor her daughter’s memory by starting a garden with flowers that will be donated to grieving families. It’s something she wanted to do last year, but bad weather prevented the project from ever taking off.
For now, she’s concentrated on keeping busy.
“It’s been life-changing,” she said. “I guess this is just my new normal.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
