The news of Mechelle's passing is still difficult to think about. Although I only worked with Mechelle on a few committee's I always admired her gentle and soft personality. She had a strong commitment to diversity and was willing to make sure her music students were provided with that experience. Mechelle has touched many. I will miss her. My prayers will be with you Steve and the boys. God Bless you, Pamela Soeder Elementary Ed.

I am so saddened by Mechelle's passing. I always admired her strength, grace and courage, even in the face of much pain and suffering. One of my fondest memories of Mechelle was when the local school district was threatening to cut the arts, and a group of us mobilized to argue against such cuts. For every "reason" the school district had for cutting arts programming, Mechelle had responses that included statistics, quotes from national studies, and testimonials from administrators in other school districts. She had done hours of prep work for that meeting, and when the meeting was over it was clear that, due to Mechell's diligence, no cuts would be made to the arts. It was awesome! David and I send Steve and the boys all of our aympathy and love.

The Hawk family is a delight, with Mechelle as a wonderful mother and wife. Several years ago, Mechelle, Steve and I had a little fun when my dog Snickers sent a card to their son's hamster Snickers. Mechelle took a photo of her son holding his hamster Snickers, who returned a card to Snickers the dog. It was silly and innocent and a glimpse at a sweet and kind Mechelle.

I only knew Mechelle to say Hi to. She always had a smile and a Hello. But what I remember about her the most is that she had such a Presence about her.

I once served on a College of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts Assessment Committee with Mechelle, who was serving as the liaison from the Music Department. Because of her, that department's assessment data, and the careful linking of course and program objectives, was just more thorough and complete than anything we were doing in the English department, or that I had actually seen coming out of any other department as well. Being who I am, I used to tease her a little about the sheer volume of what she had done, but that teasing was founded on an admiration for the commitment she was demonstrating. She had been given an important assignment by her colleagues, and she took her responsibility seriously, executing her job with great care. I believe you can tell a lot about someone from such instances, and always knew after that committee experience that Mechelle was clearly someone whom others would always look to when a difficulty but necessary task had to be tackled.