Grace Lovegrove's parents may never know why she died of cardiac arrest at age 18, but they know she will be remembered

The lined piece of paper, folded down the middle, fell from a book on a mid-January day.

On it, in Grace Lovegrove's handwriting, were words that made her parents break down, yet again.

For Rick and Lisa Lovegrove, the week had already been so emotional, so draining, so overwhelming. Their 18-year-old daughter was gone. Grace, a graduate of Roanoke's Patrick Henry High School and a Christopher Newport University cross country runner, had collapsed Jan. 10 during a light training run in Newport News and died after two days in the hospital.

The official cause of death was cardiac arrest. The underlying reasons were a mystery then, and they remain a mystery today.

But life goes on. The Lovegroves had returned to Roanoke, their lifelong home, to find their refrigerator packed with food. A neighbor had taken down their Christmas lights. Another had put a little candle memorial out on the porch. Another had set up a card table and kept a log of all the visitors.

They were touched by all of it.

But later, they had been going through Grace's things, gathering photos and mementos for the funeral, when they found the piece of paper, a poem she had evidently written in high school.

First came the chills. Tears weren't far behind.

Death is but another part of life, the poem begins

And life is for but a second

In the grand scheme of things

It won't matter how popular you are

You'll have no friends in the grave ...

An estimated 800 people visited the funeral home chapel for Grace on Jan. 16. Another 700 attended the funeral the next day. There were plenty of runners there - people she beat in high school, and people who beat her.

Friends came in from Oregon and Ohio and all parts of Virginia. The Patrick Henry class of 1973, of which Rick and Lisa are members, sat together at the church. People they didn't know dropped in and left gifts.

"She was just average," Lisa said last week. "Not the stellar athlete, not the stellar scholar. She was just Grace. So how much attention has come from this is sort of surprising."

It didn't stop there. Cards and letters poured in from friends and strangers alike. University of Virginia runner Jennifer Beury, a former Hidden Valley High standout, was among the athletes who sent their condolences.

"Hundreds and hundreds of cards," Rick said. "We're still getting cards from people."

"I only got one at home today," Lisa said.

"And I got one at work," Rick said. He looked at Lisa. "And you got one at work."

"And two gifts," Lisa said. "Some days, the poor mailman, I mean, I really did feel for him. He would have stacks like this -"

She held her hands about 8 inches apart.

"So we'd meet him at the door," she said, "because there was no way he could get the mail into the house [mailbox]."

It won't matter how tall you are

It won't matter how much you weighed or how good you looked

We'll all look the same in the grave ...

Grace had an interest in modeling. Most modeling agencies like women to be at least 5 feet 8 inches tall.

"The poor thing stopped growing at 5-7," said Elizabeth Browning, who ran cross country with Grace at Christopher Newport.

But that didn't stop Grace from securing a few gigs. She did some modeling in spring fashion shows at Valley View Mall while in high school. And when she got to Christopher Newport, she was picked to pose (fully clothed) for an art class.

"She would get paid to sit still for a few hours and let people draw her, which I think was the perfect job," Browning said. "She had the perfect face to draw - very smooth features."

Grace had an elegance about her, Browning said. When the Christopher Newport team would go out for nice dinners, Grace would break out the 5-inch stiletto heels.

"We'd all try walking in them, too," Browning said with a laugh. "And we just looked like the ugly ducklings.

"And she would just glide."

What will matter is what you left behind

The people you touched

The things you did

And what kind of legacy you left behind ...

Two scholarships have been established in Grace's memory - one at Patrick Henry and another at Christopher Newport.

The Grace M. Lovegrove Scholarship Fund, sponsored by The Center for the Humanities at Patrick Henry, will reward a student who displays scholarship, leadership and perseverance in athletics. The fund has surpassed $3,000 so far.

The Christopher Newport scholarship, fueled by friends, family and a matching donor, is expected to surpass $25,000 and earn endowed status. Priority for this award will go to students at Patrick Henry.

Carilion Health System, where Lisa works as a nurse, has launched an endeavor called Project Grace, which offers group CPR training to high school and college athletes in the region.

A resolution "celebrating the life" of Grace was passed by the state's House of Delegates on Friday, after being introduced by Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, who works at Virginia Tech with Rick. Also, an organization has contacted the Lovegroves about possibly donating an automated external defibrillator to Patrick Henry.

From the information they have, Rick and Lisa doubt that a defibrillator could have saved Grace, but they hope somebody can be helped in the future.

Rick and Lisa still await the autopsy results, which will try to determine what caused significant damage to Grace's left ventricle. Every drug test came back negative. There were no reports of her being ill or fainting before she ran that day.

The Lovegroves, coaches and teammates have all said they never saw any signs of an eating disorder, which is another possible cause of sudden cardiac arrest.

The Lovegroves want answers, mostly because they're concerned the problem could be genetic. They've heard about the family in Tidewater that recently lost two children to sudden cardiac arrest.

The Lovegroves' 12-year-old son, Spencer, is active in recreational sports and has been undergoing extraordinary medical testing just in case.

But when it comes to looking back, the Lovegroves try not to overanalyze.

"You know, there's really nothing we could have done differently," Lisa said. "You sit there and go, 'Could I see? Did I see? What could I have done?'

"But it's like what [minister] Tom Stocks said when he was looking out at those kids at the funeral: Nothing you did or didn't do was going to make a difference in the outcome. You can [wonder] what if, what if, what if ... "

"But don't go there," Rick said.

"Don't go there," Lisa said. "It'll just make you sick."

Grace's poem is in plastic now. To Rick and Lisa, it's a treasure. And even though Grace's life was short, the folded piece of lined paper revealed some unknown goals.

Goals, it seems, that Grace found a way to meet.

Now don't get me wrong, the poem concludes, I'm not saying

All work and no play

Have fun while you can, but maybe you should do something

So as not to be lost to the world

Remembrances of Grace

The Grace M. Lovegrove Scholarship Fund:

Sponsored by The Center for the Humanities, Patrick Henry High School.

Award $500 minimum annually to a senior student-athlete at Patrick Henry.

Grace Lovegrove Memorial Scholarship:

Patrick Henry High School

2102 Grandin Road S.W.

Roanoke, VA 24015

Grace Meredyth Lovegrove Scholarship:

Sponsored by Christopher Newport University and the Lovegrove family. Priority will be given to Patrick Henry students interested in Christopher Newport. Candidates from the Roanoke Valley will get second priority.

Award Annual beginning in 2006, based on a percentage of the total contributions, which are expected to reach $25,000.

CNU Advancement Office

Attn: Grace Meredyth Lovegrove Scholarship

Christopher Newport University

1 University Place

Newport News, VA 23606

Project Grace:

Carilion Health System, sponsor

Purpose: To provide group CPR training to high school and college athletes.

Contact: Interested athletic directors and coaches should call Kevin Peters, training center coordinator, at 981-7854.