By GARY HOUSTEAU

By GARY HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BELOIT -- It's been nearly seven months since meningococcal disease killed two students, leaving behind emotional scars that may never heal.
On Dec. 8 in the West Branch High gymnasium, prior to first girls basketball game of the season, Warrior coach Charles Campbell led a tribute to one of the students whose life was abruptly taken on Memorial Day, one who wore green and white for two years, one who would have been a returning starter this season and who touched so many lives around her.
Kelly Coblentz, a 15-year-old sophomore at the time of her death, left behind her parents, Jim and Lynn, older brother Clint and older sister Alison, along with a still-grieving community. Many of Kelly's friends and family and members of the West Branch community gathered to honor her memory.
"We have lost a fallen Warrior and we're not only here for a game between friendly rival teams, but also as a tribute to Kelly," said Campbell. "She was a special individual, someone that once you knew her, she was very easy to like and somebody you wouldn't forget."
In her memory
The team made book markers with Kelly's picture and a verse on it, which were handed out to the patrons that night. The players will also wear a black band on their jerseys and her initials -- "KAC" with a halo around the "A" -- on the front of their pants. Kelly's uniform number 10 is on each player's left shoe and their own number on the right shoe. They stand in a "10" formation during the national anthem, and in their last huddle before each game they say in unison, "One, oh, one, oh, it's all for you."
The Coblentz family was in attendance for the tribute and were presented with a silhouetted picture of Kelly with her teammates depicting "Charlie's Angels," along with other gifts from the team.
"We knew something was going to happen, we just didn't know what he had planned ," said Kelly's mom, Lynn. " They've done stuff like that all along, not just Saturday night. That was probably one of the bigger things they have done.
"Coach has been over here several times, the girls have come over, a lot of the guys still come over and visit and talk."
Kelly was a starter for two years on the soccer team, an honor roll student with a 3.75 grade-point average, and an accomplished piano player.
"She was liked by everybody," Lynn Coblentz said. "She would throw herself into her school work or sports and she was always there when somebody needed her.
"Whatever she did she gave 100 percent. It was rough at times, trying to schedule basketball and soccer and piano, but she juggled it for a lot of years. Whatever she did she took it seriously and put her whole heart into it.
A family bond
Alison Coblentz also played for Campbell and Kelly followed her to practice. Despite a four-year age difference, Alison and Kelly were best friends.
"She didn't just lose a sister, she lost her best friend," Lynn said, speaking for Alison who covered her eyes as they began to tear. "They did everything together and people thought at times they were twins because they look so much alike."
The oldest child, Clint, could do no wrong in his youngest sister's eyes.
"If I had any problems I always went to her because she had the answers," he said. "I'm 22 and she was only 15 and she always had the answers I was looking for . She just gave me the inspiration to do whatever. She was probably one of the best friends I ever had and will ever have."
And Kelly was daddy's little girl.
"I just spoiled her," said Jim, who bought Kelly the piano that now sits idle in their living room. "Whatever she wanted she got."
"They were pretty tight," Lynn said.
The fateful day
Within a span of a little more than 12 hours, however, the lives of the Coblentz family drastically changed.
As word of Jonathon Stauffer's sudden death spread that Saturday, concern centered around Kelly, who had been experiencing cold symptoms for a couple days. Kelly had been successfully treated for an unrelated strain of viral meningitis two years prior and after receiving a telephone call from Campbell on Sunday, she thought it might not be a bad idea to get checked. Kelly walked into Salem Community Hospital with flu-like symptoms around 3 p.m.
"I was the person that told her to go to the hospital," Campbell said.
Campbell and his wife went to a Cleveland Indians game that Saturday and, as they usually do, stayed overnight there at a hotel.
"Normally when we do that we get home no later than 11 o'clock," he said. "Well it just happened to be one of those days that we got home about 1 o'clock in the afternoon and I had about eight telephone messages. Nobody would elaborate, but they all said 'something had gone on at the school and get in touch with me.' "
That's when Campbell learned that Stauffer had passed away. Having seen Stauffer play basketball at the school's end-of-the-year picnic, Campbell immediately thought of Kelly.
"I had been watching her that whole day [Friday] and I knew she had been down there shooting the whole time," he said. "So I gave her a call at that time and said 'you need to go to the hospital and get a shot.' "
Despite rumors of a shared water bottle between Coblentz and Stauffer, no one knows how the bacterial strain was transmitted.
Kelly told Campbell that she had just come home from work and wasn't feeling well, that she was really cold.
"She did end up getting there a little bit later," Campbell said, "but it's one of those things where you look back and say, 'what if I had been home two hours earlier, would it have made a difference?' Things like that go through your mind a lot."
Not long after he talked with Kelly, she left a message on his machine saying she was heading to the hospital and she would call him later to let him know how everything went.
"That was the last message I had from her," Campbell said.
His worst nightmare came true at 5 a.m. Monday. The phone rang and Mrs. Coblentz was on the line.
"She thanked me for telling Kelly to get to the hospital and she appreciated it, but she had passed a way an hour ago," Campbell said. "Once Kelly had gone to the hospital I thought everything would be fine as far as she was concerned. We never dreamed at all that something would happen to Kelly."
Kelly's parents were with her when she passed away at 4 a.m.
"We were shocked, surprised, unprepared," Lynn said.
Preparing forthe season
During basketball season, Campbell, who has three children of his own, said he sees his players as much as their parents.
"It's something you can't fathom," said Campbell, overcome with tears. "I can't believe it really happened. It's almost like you're constantly saying, 'this is a dream; we're going to wake up; she'll be here tomorrow.' "
Knowing how hard Kelly was already preparing for her junior season gives the West Branch players the necessary inspiration. After the tribute, the Warriors gave Canfield, a Division II state semifinal team last year, a rough time, taking a 28-25 lead at the half before losing 53-46.
"She was always a very upbeat person and she was so fun to be around," said a tearful Heather Kurena, one of Kelly's closest friends on the team. "She worked very hard to be good and she was very mature for her age. I miss her a lot, she's one of those people who you just can't replace and you can tell that she is missed on the team."
Among her teammates, Kelly's death probably hit Heather the hardest, Campbell said.
"It was just horrible, I didn't know what to think, I didn't want to believe it," Kurena said. "It's just now kind of starting to hit me to where she's really not here, she's not coming back. She meant a lot to a lot of people. She was really a special person to a lot of people."
As one can imagine, the holiday season has been hard for the family.
"I'd say maybe the last month it's kind of hit all of us," Lynn said. "It was tough over her birthday and then with the holidays coming, it's a lot harder now."
Kelly would have turned 16 on Aug. 27.
"We got a cake and her friends came over," Lynn said. "Before they came they all went to the cemetery and put stuff down and left flowers and all kinds of stuff. We sang happy birthday and lit the candles, all of us, as if she was here. They brought us over a booklet and the friends, guys and girls both, they all wrote something in it that we'd have to keep.
"The kids still go to the cemetery, they still stop over, and their support has been great. Really everybody's has in the community. We've been very fortunate."
Keeping her memory alive
The family has started a Kelly Coblentz Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Salem branch of the Home Savings and Loan Company.
"We really want to thank the West Branch community," Jim said. "There's too many names to mention and I wouldn't want to leave anyone out, but we'd like to thank the Quaker City Race Way and the Drag Strip and Flying B Golf Course and everyone else for their support."
Attending West Branch sporting events, as they always have, has helped the family cope.
"We try to go to as many of the sports activities that we can," Lynn said. "It's helped having the kids be there for us. We try to show our support to them since they've been so good to show it to us. And we have some good friends, and that helps a lot.
"But certain things will set you off. We can just be feeling OK and then five minutes later it's something, and then you're OK again. It's like mood swings, it just comes and goes."
"If you stay busy it seems like it's bearable," Jim said.
Kelly's memory will be frozen in time in many lives.
"She did a lot and she was very much to be proud of," Lynn said.
"For a 15-year old, she touched a lot of lives," added Jim.
XDonations to the Kelly Coblentz Memorial Scholarship Fund can be sent to Home Savings and Loan, Salem bank branch, 650 East State St., Salem, 44460, or by calling (330) 332-1548.