Rachael Elizabeth Hill enjoyed taking trips to Disney World with her family, having long talks with her friends and attending classes and football games with her fellow Hokies.
But throughout her short life, Hill left a strong legacy — one of joy, love, kindness, spirituality, fun, humor and encouragement to all who knew her.
Hill's friend of 13 years, Christina Neulen, noted that all of these things and more seemed to "radiate from the inside of who she was to everything else."
"She just affected everyone else, and that's something she still has now. That's not temporary," Neulen said.
Hill attended Grove Avenue Christian School, a small private school, from kindergarten through her high school graduation.
She was known there for her love of God, volleyball, piano, shoes, movies, French, reading, friends and family.
"Her parents were her two best friends," said Andrew Cannada, Hill's friend since kindergarten.
Her volleyball coach, Anna Reinstein, explained, "Rachael's mother drove her to school every day, even after she got her license, because they valued that time to talk and be with one another."
Hill was a competitive volleyball player and captain of her high school team, said Amanda Cannada, another of Hill's friends.
Maria Gillian, a biochemistry major and Hill's friend and roommate at Tech, remembered meeting her for the first time at volleyball.
"I had transferred to the school and didn't know anyone, and she was just a sweetheart and as nice as can be. She made me feel like I had known her for years, even though I had just met her," Gillian said.
She was leader on the volleyball court as well.
"She used to write little notes to each of the girls on the team, encouraging them and always including a scripture," Reinstein said. "We always had a good volleyball team, but if we would be in a game and things weren't looking good, Rachael had a way of bringing the team back around and bringing them to a win."
Hill was also dedicated to playing the piano.
"She would always play, even in school," Cannada said. "She usually had a free period and she would play the piano, and you could hear her through the halls."
Friends spoke often of Hill's smile, and Reinstein noted, "She has a beautiful smile that could really just make your day. She had a great way of sensing when people were having a difficult day and knew how to minister to that."
Fellow student, Tre Becoat, recalled Hill's kindness toward him when he was a newcomer at Grove Avenue Christian School in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article.
Hill burned him a CD, titled "Tre's Entertainment Mix" for Christmas last year, and Becoat said in the article, "I felt like she had gotten me the most expensive thing she could have."
Reinstein, also Hill's English teacher, remembered a time when Hill's class was making sleeping bags for the homeless. "A lot of the kids, especially the boys, just couldn't even figure out how to thread a needle, much less put it into a piece of fabric and pull it through. And Rachael had so much patience with the kids who just couldn't get it … And I was thinking about how patient she was in trying to help them do something that was just so simple, but without making them feel bad about not being able to do it."
Friends remember her for the conversations, the movies, the trips, and the time spent with a girl who seemed to take joy in all life offered her.
"(Rachel was) one of those people who was always good to talk to," said her friend, Anu Kuriakose. "We could talk for at least two hours about everything … and I'm just going to miss our long talks."
Hill's parents even took her and the four other senior girls from Grove Avenue Christian School to Disney World during the summer of their senior year, and her friends recalled "having fun acting like kids for a week" and just how much Hill loved it there.
Her friends said that after graduating from Grove Avenue Christian School, Hill's prayers led her to Tech.
Gillian, said she was leaning toward a major in biochemistry and nanotechnology.
"She was contemplating going into research for that; she really wanted to discover a cure for Parkinson's and cancer. She found it fascinating, because chemistry breaks things down into the smallest level; and she found that was a good way to see the handiwork of God in a way that most people don't understand or appreciate," Gillian said.
Above all, those who knew Hill felt that she would want to be remembered as someone devoted to the Lord.
"She lived her life for the Lord," friend Amanda Cannada said, "and I think she would want people to come to know the Lord through this whole event."
"I know that Rachael will want people to remember her as a fun-loving person, who put Jesus Christ first in her life and enjoyed every moment she had on Earth," Kuriakose said.
"I'm waiting to see my best friend again. I know she is with the Lord," Rachael's mother, Tammy Hill, said in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article. "If she had the choice of coming back or staying, I think she'd stay."
"I'm so thankful for that last tender hug against my cheek where we said, 'I love you, I love you,' and she left," said Rachael's father, Allen Hill, in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article.
