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'She was a great kid'

Emily Keyes known for her smile, active in speech, volleyball

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 28, 2006 at midnight

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BAILEY - Just about everyone in town knew Emily Keyes, the friendly high school girl who waited tables at the Cutthroat Cafe downtown.

She was the girl with the ever-present smile and no shortage of "please" and "thank yous."

So when news spread through this mountain town Wednesday that it was 16-year-old Emily who was shot and killed during a standoff at Platte Canyon High School, the shock was felt everywhere.

Friends rushed to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver where Emily was airlifted. A devastated group of young people gathered at the cafe. A special rosary was held at St. Mary of the Rockies Church. And at the Woodside Inn in nearby Pine, three grown women sat at the bar and cried.

"This whole community is affected by this," said Chip Thomas, owner of the Cutthroat Cafe. "I mean, you're talking Bailey, Colorado. For something like this to happen, it touches everyone."

Thomas said he hired Emily about two years ago. The high school junior worked three or four days a week, when she wasn't busy with speech or volleyball.

"She was a great kid," Thomas said.

Monte Fisher, of Bailey, said he watched Emily grow up. Fisher's step-daughter, Jessica Leedom, met Emily in second grade and the two were best friends.

"She was like part of our family," Fisher said.

Emily, who has a twin brother, Casey, always would thank Fisher and his wife for letting her come over, Fisher said. On her way out the door, she would hug them goodbye.

"Out of all of Jessica's friends, she was our favorite," Fisher said. "She was one of the nicest girls. Just a real sweetheart."

Shawn Swigert, 15, said Emily did such an outstanding job on a world history paper that her teacher read it out loud to his class of sophomores Wednesday morning because she wanted the underclassmen to hear an example of the kind of work she wanted from them.

The paper was set in medieval times, and a boy died in the end, Swigert said while attending the rosary at St. Mary of the Rockies.

Bishop Michael Sheridan, of Colorado Springs, performed the service. He said Emily was still alive when he left Colorado Springs for Bailey. "We hoped to pray for her recovery," Sheridan told about 60 people. "But now we must pray for her family."