Remembering Kayleigh Rawles

Kayleigh Anne Rawles is remembered fondly for her love of reading, dancing, softball and constant desire to make everyone happy — including her 7-year-old brother, Kameron; her parents, Kristine Silva and Joshua Rawles; and even strangers she passed on the street.

“She waved to strangers all the time, and it drove me crazy, because you never know people in the world,” said Kayleigh’s mother, her voice breaking with emotion as she relived the memory. “But she always said, ‘I waved to them and some of them waved back, and they smiled. And for that moment, I might have made someone happy that day.’ And that’s really who she was. She just wanted everyone to feel happy and loved.”

Kayleigh, nicknamed Kaykay, died in her home on Sunday, Nov. 13. She was 13. Kayleigh was an eighth-grader at Ocoee Middle School who played softball for the West Orange Girls Club. She was a girl who loved to dance, starting with lessons in ballet, tap, jazz and Scottish highland at just 2 years old.

Her memorial, held Nov. 19 at Bill Breeze Park, was filled with emotional hugs between family and friends donning tear-streaked smiles who gazed upon numerous pictures of moments throughout Kayleigh’s 13 years of life. Multiple remarks were made of how Kayleigh and her mother are spitting images — a fact reinforced by Kayleigh’s skills with the clarinet and her own desire to one day become a nurse like her mom. 

But Kayleigh’s mom remembers her daughter for her silly moments, unceasing preoccupation with making sure everyone was happy and a caring heart that led to her volunteering to take care of disabled kids at her school.

“She had so much love in her heart for everyone, and she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders,” Silva said. “She always made sure all her friends were OK. Even if I was having a hard day, my 13-year-old girl would go, ‘Mom, you want a foot rub?’ No matter what she was doing, she always made sure that everyone was OK.”

Silva recalled Kayleigh’s obsession with books and libraries, along with her devastation whenever another local bookstore closed or when her mother would catch her reading when she was supposed to be sleeping.

“God, she loved reading,” Silva said. “She read so many books. I would find her at two or three o’clock in the morning after I’d put her to bed at 9:30, and I’d go, ‘What are you still doing up? You need to go to bed.’ I’d have to take the book out of the room to make her stop, and she would say, ‘Just one more chapter.’”

Kayleigh’s love of stories began at an early age, when her older cousin, Caitlin Chicoine, read her Dr. Seuss books before bedtime. Since then, the “sweet and considerate” Kayleigh, as Chicoine described, kept up with all the latest releases in the young-adult genre, including the Hunger Games trilogy — one of Kayleigh’s favorites.

However, Kayleigh spent just as much time playing her favorite video game: The Legend of Zelda, as she did with her treasured books. Photos displayed in a poster at her memorial included a child’s drawing of the Zelda character. 

Presley Anderson, one of Kayleigh’s best friends since kindergarten, also recounted Kayleigh spending much time in her bedroom playing Zelda and listening to music, particularly Pierce The Veil — Kayleigh’s favorite band. 

She described Kayleigh as a sarcastic, funny friend who excelled at brushing off typical middle-school drama and being the voice of reason whenever they spoke of their problems on their walks home from school every week. She laughed as she remembered the many times they had sleepovers and her friend would dance around while she would sing.

“I’m upset, of course,” Anderson said of Kayleigh’s passing. “But I know she’s in a better place now; I know she’s happy.”

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected].