Family, Friends Remember Jolee Tarrant

Energetic. Unique. Artistic. Brave. Independent. Spunky. Creative. Kind. Loving. Precious.

Those are words that C.G. “Colly” Caldwell, professor of biblical studies at , used to describe Jolee Tarrant.

Caldwell was Tarrant’s Bible professor, and he spoke at a memorial for her at the school Tuesday evening.

“She was a believer,” he told those in attendance, who filled Hutchinson Auditorium. He urged them to remember that every Christian has to leave this world to be with God at some point and to think about how amazing it must be to be with Him.

Even though everyone in the large theater was silent, it seemed that no one doubted Tarrant was in God’s arms in Heaven.

Jolee Ann Tarrant, 19, of California, died Jan. 4 in an . She was a sophomore at Florida College studying photojournalism and had been during the school’s winter break. She and the friend were on their way to a tea shop when the accident happened.

Florida College hasn’t lost a current student in more than 20 years, said Beth Moorer, assistant to the school’s registrar, who sat at the back of the auditorium Tuesday, singing harmony during the musical portions of the memorial and wiping away tears with a tissue. She said Tarrant stood out among the school’s 500 students.

“She was a lovely, lovely girl,” Moorer said. “She’s one of those types—very artistic. She was fun. She would light up a room.”

Tarrant’s family attended the Florida College memorial and traveled to Temple Terrace from California with help from financial donors. Friends of Tarrant have set up a website, Remember Jolee, where anyone can make a donation to help defray the cost of the family's travel and funeral expenses. Since going live Jan. 7, the site has seen more than $22,000 in donations. It collected $15,000 in the first 10 hours.

Tarrant’s mother, Sharon Tarrant, wrote about her daughter after the family’s trip, and Caldwell read aloud what she had prepared during the memorial. Sharon Tarrant compared her daughter to the landscape the family had seen from the plane. God made the mountains jagged and the rivers winding, she wrote.

“Jolee was one of God’s designs,” Caldwell read. “God made her less exact, less even, less predictable—but more beautiful.”

Jolee Ann Tarrant was named after her three aunts, Caldwell read, and the family realized later that her names meant dear, lovely and beautiful.

“By your being here tonight,” Caldwell read, “I hope it means that you saw those things in her.”

H.E. “Buddy” Payne, president of Florida College, offered the final prayer of the night. While Tarrant’s family can no longer talk to her or hug her, he said, there will be comfort in the wonderful memories of who she was.

“We thank you for your precious daughter,” he said.

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During the memorial, C.G. “Colly” Caldwell, professor of Biblical Studies at Florida College, read the lyrics from one of Jolee Tarrant’s favorite songs, “Anna Rose” by Vienna Teng:

Anna Rose sleep well tonight
The stars are dancing on the carpet of the sky
Time to close your wondering eyes
Where I see the sleepiness creeping

Anna Rose it makes my heart smile
To know you give love so freely
Anna Rose it makes it worthwhile
Your love makes me see things so clearly
How it grows heaven knows
Anna Rose sleep well tonight

Anna Rose it's time to dream
I see that your imagination knows no bounds
There it flows like some magical stream
And carries you on its journey

Anna Rose it makes my heart smile
To know you give love so freely
Anna Rose it makes it worthwhile
Your love makes me see things so clearly
How it grows heaven knows
Anna Rose dream well tonight