GREENFIELD — When Ursula Snow of Shelburne arrived at Greenfield Center School in second grade, it took her all of an hour to find her place, her former teacher Sara Johnson recalled.
“She fit in like she had been at the school forever,” Johnson said. “She was such a friendly, kind human … it was almost like she had been here from kindergarten.”
Snow, 13, died Monday after spending about two weeks in a coma following an accident in Francestown, N.H.
According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Snow was a passenger in an off-road vehicle also known as a utility task vehicle (UTV) when it rolled over on its side, pinning her beneath. Neither she nor the driver, a 49-year-old Francestown resident, were wearing helmets or seatbelts. Snow was flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Snow attended The Center School until last year, when she moved to Four Rivers Charter School for seventh grade. Snow leaves behind her mother, Pamela, and her father, John.
While it has been some years since Snow was in second grade, Johnson remembers her vividly, due in part to the hugs the 13-year-old enthusiastically offered even as she grew up.
“Ursi was never one of those kids who got an edge towards adults,” Johnson said. “She would always ask for a hug. If I was walking, and she would see me, she would yell to me, ‘Sara,’ and run up and give me a hug, and that is so rare at 11, 12 years old … I don’t know if she knew how much it meant to me.”
Though kind and compassionate, Snow was certainly not a push-over, according to her former second-and-third-grade teacher Oliver Brown. She was independent and often led others in games and activities, though always in a gentle manner, he added.
Brown recalled an initiative Snow started during one outdoor lesson, where she encouraged her classmates to collect objects in the woods to sell at an imaginary antique shop.
“It was the center of the life of the woods that year, and it was all her, she drove the whole thing,” Brown said of the shop. “She was sending everyone on missions. But she wasn’t bossy at all, she was just very lovable. Filled with ideas.”
Snow enjoyed spending afternoon lessons playing with classmates in the woods, Brown said.
“She was always a very alive kid, but in the woods, she was extra alive,” Brown said.
While independent and spirited in nature, Snow was also quick to criticize herself, Johnson said.
“If she couldn’t understand what we were doing in that second, she would go to tears,” Johnson said. “She was like — I have to know how to do this. She was so smart.”
Emily Cross, who taught Snow in fourth and fifth grade, remembers her as an inquisitive, enthusiastic student who would “jump out of her seat” to learn something new.
Brown agreed with this assessment, saying Snow asked “tons of questions, always.”
“She raised her hand at every opportunity,” Brown said.
Snow was a voracious reader, her teachers agreed. Admissions Director Jane Stephenson, who coached Snow in soccer for several years, fondly recalled having “book chats” with her on the sidelines. Snow gravitated toward fantasy and magic themes, Stephenson said, and had recently discovered the “Twilight” series.
“We would have big debates about whether they were OK to read,” Stephenson laughed. “She would bring me books and I would bring her books.”
While Snow was a soccer “novice,” Stephenson said, she would always persevere, no matter the score.
“Even if we were down 14-0, she’d be like ‘come on guys, we can do it,’ and they’d be like ‘no we can’t.’” Stephenson said. “She was a never-give-up-kid.”
While many students become interested in “social maneuvering” as they grow older, Brown said, Snow was not concerned with keeping up those kinds of appearances.
“She was guileless, in the best way,” Brown said. “She was so genuine.”
Snow’s strength of character partly comes from her mom, Pamela, Stephenson said, describing her as a “very intentional parent” with a “gentle impact on the Earth and people.”
The two had a “remarkable” relationship, Johnson said. Brown agreed, saying Ursula and Pamela seemed “so similar to each other” in both looks and personality.
“It felt really sweet,” Brown said.
Pamela “worked really hard” to send her daughter to The Center School, Stephenson said, to ensure her daughter had “access to a creative curriculum.”
“She made a lot of sacrifices for Ursula to come here,” Stephenson said of Pamela.
Ursula’s father John was often at the school, Stephenson said, and seemed in awe of the daughter he had brought into the world.
“He always seemed like, ‘I can’t believe I have this cool kid,’” Stephenson said.
Teachers are planning ways to honor Snow and help their students grieve. The middle school observed a moment of silence when Snow was injured and when she died. Students sent her cards and made prayer flags. And going forward, the teachers say they will respond to their students’ individual needs and take each day as it comes.
“It is impossible to believe it, that she’s gone,” Stephenson said. “It would be true of any kid, but because of her vivacity, it’s even harder to believe.”
Last month, Snow won a Greenfield poetry contest for her work entitled “As the World Keeps Spinning,” and was nominated for another called “Books.”
“But the rest of us are here, to hold each other high, through the suffering and fear, and the treacherous goodbyes,” Snow wrote in her award-winning poem.
Snow’s teachers remember her talent for writing and poetry from a young age.
“She wrote these super ‘emo’ poems, and she was little,” Brown said. “Really dark and deep and intense, but it totally made sense for her. She was a very soulful kid. She was a feeler.”
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.