Erin loved to color and to play with playdough. She loved the color pink, her long hair, and her Daddy’s t-shirts. She loved to swim at Pap Pap’s pool and to go on vacation to Ocean Isle Beach with her family. She loved putt-putt golf and bowling and jumping on her trampoline.
She loved her TV shows and “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” “Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo,” “Frozen,” “Tangled” and “The Peanuts.” She loved wheelchair rides around Fork Union and loved to go “the Long Way” around Bremo Bluff to count cats and then over the James River Bridge, always with the windows wide open. She loved Frosty desserts at Wendy’s and shopping at Walmart and traversing the Downtown Mall, always culminating with a stop at Sweet Frog. She loved music…from praise music to the Beatles. From Elvis Presley to Jordan Yonce’s version of “I’m Yours.” And anything sung by Just Us. She loved singing Christmas carols…even in summer. In fact, she loved everything about Christmas…and birthdays. She also loved her church, PCC-Riverside, and during her healthier days enjoyed singing and dancing on the front row.
Erin had a special kinship with her cats, Beum and Hardy. She loved her stuffed bear that played “Lean on Me” that went with her on every wheelchair ride.
Erin had a special relationship with her brothers, Daniel, Dylan, and Kyle, and she assigned a unique call for each one, which each brother cherished. She loved her sister, Diana, who shared many traits with her, including a mean jump shot and the same number of chromosomes. They also enjoyed sharing a room together. She loved her sister-in-law, Amanda, and her nephew, Wyatt, very much and always enjoyed visiting them.
Erin loved all those who cared for her…her “Nurse-for-Life” Sonya Patterson, her party-planners extraordinaire, Lynn and Duane Fender, her “other” moms, Jenny Payne, Mona Holmes, and Janice LeSueur, and her many, many friends from all over. She was known to describe each and every one of her friends as her “Best Friend.”
Erin is survived by her parents, Rob and Karen Feathers, from Fork Union, Va., her siblings: Daniel Feathers, from Denver, Colo.; Dylan and Amanda Feathers (and nephew, Wyatt), from Leesburg, Va.; Kyle Feathers, from Leesburg; Diana Feathers, from Fork Union; her Pap Pap, Jack Feathers, from Fork Union, Va.; her Gram, Samantha Hough, from Richmond, Va.; uncles and aunts and many cousins, far and wide; and her extended family: Jen Rocha and Glenn and Jason Boyle. She was predeceased by her maternal Grandpa, David Hough, and her paternal Meemaw, Donna Feathers, both of whom treasured their special granddaughter. She was also predeceased by her Uncle Scott Feathers.
The Feathers family will be forever grateful to #TeamErin for its members’ love, support, prayers, and constant encouragement and to the members of #TeamPICU at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital for their dedication to the children in their care, for their heroic efforts to save Erin’s life, and for their hugs in the midst of our fear, joy, and sorrow through the past year, including the day of her passing, Feb. 13, 2017. The family will also be forever indebted to U.Va.’s pediatric nephrology unit, and especially to Mary Duffy, and to the cardiac team at U.Va. Hospital.
A memorial service to celebrate Erin’s life will be held at Fork Union Military Academy’s Wicker Chapel on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, at 2 p.m. with a reception in the Academy’s Estes Athletic Center following the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Erin’s memory should be made to the Medford Basketball League of Fluvanna County High School or the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital.