By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BLUE ASH - Without Mallory Naab there to sing, Ursuline Academy students gathered in silence Monday.

"We'll sing again, because Mallory would want that, but not today," the school's music director, Robin Bierschenk, told an assembly at the Blue Ash school where Mallory's powerful soprano voice was known to span multiple octaves.

Mallory, 16, of Hamilton, was killed in a crash Saturday as she pulled out of a Butler County church parking lot - just three days after she received her driver's license.

The Ursuline junior, who also served on the city of Hamilton's Youth Commission, was at least the 11th Greater Cincinnati teen to die in teen-driver-involved crashes since August.

Principal Sharon Redmond said Mallory's death was the first traffic fatality among Ursuline students in more than a decade, hitting hard at the all-girls Catholic school with an enrollment of more than 630 students.

"Every time there was a prayer service, Mallory was there, front and center, singing - that was her gift," Ms. Redmond said.

Instead of songs Monday, there were recitations, prayers and silent reflections in memory of Mallory - and of the duet she and schoolmate Kelly Klein had sung, "All Things Bright and Beautiful," at a pre-Thanksgiving assembly just last Tuesday.

While many other teen fatalities have been blamed on speeding, "hill-hopping" or other irresponsible behavior, the crash that killed Mallory doesn't appear to fit that pattern, authorities said.

Around 5 p.m. Saturday, Mallory had just finished a rehearsal with the Hamilton Encore Theater Group, select vocalists slated to perform in Hamilton, Scotland, in August as part of the Sister Cities program.

As Mallory pulled her 1997 Saturn from the First Baptist Church in St. Clair Township, she apparently didn't see a pickup truck and pulled into its path on Hamilton-Cleves Road (Ohio 128), said Detective Monte Mayer, Butler County sheriff's spokesman.

Emergency crews extricated Mallory from the wreckage. A medical helicopter took her to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. The driver of the 1992 Chevy pickup, Bryan Brinker, 27, of Ross Township, was treated at Fort Hamilton Hospital.

Mallory's survivors include her parents, Timothy and Pamela, and brother Andrew.

Her obituary notice urges: "When you think of Mallory, please think of her wonderful smile and the loving and giving person that she was. ... Her generous spirit will live on through her gift of tissue/organ donation."

Services will be held at the church where Mallory worshiped, Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1285 Main St., Hamilton, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Visitation will be 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Webb Noonan Funeral Home, Ross Avenue at South D Street, Hamilton.

Her family wishes memorials to be directed to the church's Adult Choir; the Ursuline Music Department, 5535 Pfeifer Road, Cincinnati OH 45242; or the Greater Hamilton Civic Theatre, P.O. Box 452, Hamilton OH 45012.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com