Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence were happy children who shared the kind of bond twins do, but the 8-year-old girls from Dallas were also different from each other.
Hanna was the one with endless energy who wanted to be a chef and open a restaurant to feed the needy for free. Rebecca had an infectious laugh, but also “a killer eye-roll,” her parents said. One day, she wanted to become a teacher.
Neither will ever get a chance to fulfill those dreams. The twins, who had just finished second grade, died along with 25 other campers and counselors at Camp Mystic in horrific flooding in the Texas Hill Country that killed dozens more on July 4. The girls left behind a devastated big sister along with their parents.
“Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,” John and Lacy Lawrence said in a statement. “We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them.”
They added: “But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time. “
More than 100 people died in the flooding across central Texas, including the 27 from Camp Mystic. Flood waters roared over the hard-packed earth after an early morning storm caused the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes.
Most of the deaths reported are in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic and other youth camps dotted the landscape. A massive search for those still missing has been ongoing, but four days have passed since anyone was found alive in Kerr County, officials said Tuesday.
“It has been an unimaginable time for all of us,” said David Lawrence, Hanna and Rebecca’s grandfather and the former publisher of the Miami Herald. The girls gave their family, including their sister, joy, he said in a statement.
“They and that joy can never be forgotten.”
The girls found delight in different ways. Hanna could always be found building, drawing and creating, while Rebecca was always up for a family movie night and loved all animals, real and plush. No one could make Rebecca laugh as much or as hard as Hanna did.
“They were so different, but had the sweetest friendship,” their parents said in an email Tuesday.
The twins shared a love of books, staying up all night to read to each other or spending hours playing make-believe games “with each playing multiple starring roles.” They also shared a desire to be just like Harper, their big sister.
University Park Elementary School, where Hanna and Rebecca attended, said on its website that “numerous” students were in the Texas Hill Country during the flooding and had to evacuate. A message seeking comment was left with the school Tuesday afternoon.
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DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.
