7 years ago

I had the news on and in passing I heard the name of a former classmate from the Red Deer College Fine Arts program. Of course I stopped what I was doing to see if it was the same girl I knew and what she was doing on the news. It was the girl I knew, Nicole Hoar had gone missing near Prince George while hitch hiking to see her sister.

I didn't know Nicole very well, we shared classes and spoke here and there, I admired her work and I admired her quiet maturity. While she was not a part of my immediate circle of friends, (Nicole took ceramics and painting while I focused on sculpture and printmaking) she never seemed to keep herself apart from those who were not a part of hers. One night I drove her home after a late night working in the studios.

After two years at RDC Nicole transferred to another fine arts program and that was the extent of our relationship. This is what happens in life, people pass in and out some make a big impression stay in your life for years others make a brief appearance before moving on to other experiences. Sometimes you keep in touch, sometimes you only think of them in passing.

At the time, I couldn't imagine what her family was going through. I only knew that I wanted to know what had happened to her and in the best case scenario I wanted Nicole to be OK and home soon.

Time went on and Nicole's name joined the roster of women; victims who had disappeared along what is known as the Highway of Tears here in BC. Now that I'm a mother I can fully imagine the nightmare that Nicole's family has been living. It's the worst possible thing that could happen to a family, to your child.

Nicole's name has popped up in the news again recently. This time it seems that there is a break in the case and a search has been made on an acreage close to the last place that Nicole was last seen. The results of this search are not being made public; but, I'm hoping that if nothing else there will be some closure for the Hoar family. At the very most I hope that whatever they've found will also lead to closure for the families of the other women.

For me, Nicole will always be that talented girl I went to school with, the girl with the Brown hair and blue eyes, the girl who created the amazing ceramic torso that looked like it was made of bricks, the girl who I drove home late one night when she asked, because I happened to live close by. I know that she was a million more things to those people who knew and loved her better than I did and my heart and thoughts go out to those people.