MELISSA ALINE TROTTER (NOVEMBER 26, 1979 TO DECEMBER 8, 1998)

            We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, will always remember Melissa Trotter on November 26 every year as it was her birthday. Although she was murdered on December 8, 1998 and taken from this earth, we will remember how she lived on this earth, and not how she died.

As for the saints who are on the earth,

“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

- Psalm 16:3 (NKJV)

"So long as we live, they too shall live and love for they are a part of us as we remember them."

- Gates of Prayer

 

Melissa Trotter

PRECIOUS MEMORIES OF MELISSA TROTTER:

In December 1998, nineteen-year-old Melissa Trotter was studying for her first-year finals at Montgomery College in Conroe, about forty miles north of the centre of Houston. She had been a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls – blue for fidelity, indigo for patriotism, violet for service – since she was eleven. Her mother, Sandy, was quoted as saying that Melissa ‘wasn’t embarrassed to carry her Bible with her everywhere she went’. She was on the cheerleading team, sang in the Methodist church choir, and could be relied upon to call home or send a reassuring text message if she would be staying out late.

“Her theme when she was a leader of the Rainbow Girls was the Serenity Prayer and ‘love thy neighbor, So that was kind of a tough deal.”

- Sandy Trotter, mother of Melissa Trotter

Melissa Trotter

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/swearingen-larry-photos.htm]

Sandy Trotter, Melissa’s mother, said keeping her daughter’s memory alive is very important to her and her family and that the Tree of Angels has been very helpful in this regard.

“I take it one day at a time. Some days are easier than others,” Sandy said. “But I cherish those 19 years I had with Melissa.”

   

“It is as hard today as it was then,” said Bryan Trotter, Melissa’s brother. “I think about her every day. She loved the holidays, especially Christmas. She was always so loving, always saw the good in people. The world would be a much better place if there were more people like her in it.”

 

Family photos of Melissa Trotter, 19, who disappeared in 1998.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/08/07/us/07ttswearingen2.html]

Although Bryan’s two sons and infant daughter never met Melissa, Bryan said he continues to share stories with them about their aunt.

“One thing they know about their Aunt Melissa is that, through the teachings of Christ, Melissa is alive for all eternity,” Sandy said.