Living Memorial Planned for Dr. Debra Kelley

By Max Duchaine
Rotunda ReporterA university press release recently announced the plan to construct a living memorial for the late Longwood professor Dr. Debra S. Kelley is being set into motion. The announcement came three days after services were held at Farmville United Methodist Church to remember the lives of both Kelley and her daughter, 16-year-old Emma Niederbrock.

Kelley and her daughter, along with estranged husband Mark Niederbrock and her daughter's friend 18-year-old Melanie Wells, were brutally murdered in their home on First Ave. in September. Emma's boyfriend, 20-year-old Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, remains the lone suspect in the quadruple homicide that rocked the town several weeks ago.

According to the press release, the memorial will be in the form of a planted tree with an accompanying bench, much similar to several existing memorials in memory of members of the Longwood family who have passed. Associate Vice President for Marketing & Communication Dennis Sercombe believes that honoring Dr. Kelley is the main purpose of the memorial. "I think [the memorial] will help honor her and it will make people feel a little bit better than they have been feeling about the incident," he said.

Funding for the memorial is being orchestrated by the Lambda Kappa Alpha chapter of Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE), the national criminal justice fraternity. Longwood Chapter President Chrissy Ferguson explained Kelley's ties to LAE. "Dr. Kelley was our former advisor for LAE and established our chapter in the 1990s," said Ferguson. "She was also an academic adviser and professor for many of the members of our organization."

In order to establish the necessary funds for the project, LAE has set up a fund through the Longwood University Foundation and is planning to use other methods to raise money as well. "We plan to possibly set up a table in front of D-Hall collecting loose change to contribute with our own donation," said Ferguson. LAE is not alone in the fundraising efforts. "Many organizations other than LAE have been raising money as well, such as the sociology club."

The fraternity's ties to the project are, according to Sercombe, "very appropriate, but important as well." Sercombe noted several key details about the project that are not yet known about what the memorial would provide for those close to Dr. Kelley. "Some of that depends on the location and the people who are sponsoring it, the criminal justice fraternity. We would look to them to develop some sort of an event or an unveiling as this memorial is created," he said. "They would probably take the lead on bringing it to the attention of the campus community."

According to Ferguson, most of these big details have yet to be worked out. "Our plans for the memorial consist of a tree and a bench. However, at this time we have only gotten official approval for the tree. The bench is something that we anticipate to have after the tree has been planted."

The memorial, in whatever final form it takes, will undoubtedly have an aesthetic effect on the campus regardless of where LAE decides to put it. The psychological effects it will bring, on the other hand, are expected to be more profound, according to Sercombe. "I think it will honor Dr. Kelley in a way that will keep her in people's minds," Sercombe said. "It's a nice tribute, and it's something that will be visually noticeable. It will be part of her here forever."

He notes that closure, however, remains far down the road for those affected, and is something that a living memorial will not necessarily help to provide. "This has sickened everybody quite a bit and I think that the memorial services helped a little bit to bring semi-closure to them. An incident like this, for the people who were at Longwood University and in Farmville, this will stay with us probably forever."

Ferguson remembered how great an impact Dr. Kelley had on her students, how "even outside the classroom she would go out of her way to say hello and ask how I was doing." She stated that not only was she a superior professor and advisor, but an inspiration to female criminal justice students. "Having a woman professor in this area reminds females that careers in this field are not restricted to just males," she said.

Students, faculty, alumni and other members of the Longwood family are being urged to make a contribution to the Longwood University Foundation, which will assist LAE in their efforts to preserve the Dr. Kelley's memory. For more information on the memorial and how to make a contribution, visit http://www.longwood.edu/farmvillehomicide.htm.