Saturday, May 27, 2000

Donated stone marks tiny grave

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By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        MILFORD TOWNSHIP — Last November, 8-year-old Ashley Smith was buried in a clearing beyond a hay field on a 73-acre farm where she spent the last six years of her tragic life.

KATHY SMITH AND GRANDSON MICHAEL ESKINS, 3, AT THE GRAVE OF HER ADOPTED DAUGHTER, ASHLEY SMITH. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        The grave had no tombstone because her parents, Elbert and Kathy Smith, could not afford one. But that changed Friday afternoon.

        Ed Younginger, driving a motorized vehicle, hauled a small, granite tombstone to the site and cemented the marker at the head of the little girl's grave. Nine members of Ashley's family looked on.

        Mr. Younginger, owner of Milford Monument Co., donated the tombstone.

        Mrs. Smith smiled as she looked at the tombstone, with a lighted remembrance candle next to it. Two artificial bouquets and an artificial wreath with Ashley's picture in the middle decorated the grave.

        “This is a big relief to have a headstone,” she said. “It looked so barren before.

        I needed to know that everybody will know who's here.”

        The placement of the tombstone on Ashley's grave was a final salute to a little girl who spent her life in wheelchairs and hospital beds.

        Authorities say Ashley's death last Oct. 31 can be traced to a violent shaking she received when she was 3 weeks old from her biological mother's boyfriend, John C. Cooper. Because of the shaking, Ashley suffered severe physical and mental disabilities that left her unable to talk, sit or hold her head up.

        Mr. Cooper, 30, of Hamilton, was charged in February with involuntary manslaughter. His trial is scheduled to begin June 6. For the shaking incident, Mr. << Cooper was convicted of endangering children in 1990 and spent a year in jail. Her death prompted authorities to file new charges.

        The Smiths, who operate a heating and air-conditioning business and live in rural northern Butler County, adopted Ashley when she was 2 years old.

        The Smiths later adopted two other severely handicapped children. Nine-year-old Michael A. Smith also is a victim of shaken baby syndrome.

        Mrs. Smith has spoken to school and civic groups about shaken baby syndrome and other forms of child abuse.

        Before leaving Ashley's grave Friday, Mrs. Smith began to cry.

        “It sure doesn't get any easier,” she said. “I think about her every day.”

        Mrs. Smith will testify as a prosecution witness in the trial.

        Besides Ashley's name and birth and death dates, her tombstone includes an illustration of a candle with a sleeping angel at its base. Next to it is the inscription: “Our Little Angel.”

       

       

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