Just more than a year has passed since Lacey Holsworth, known as “Princess Lacey,” died after her battle with cancer.
The story of the little girl, who befriended basketball player Adreian Payne last year, gained recognition across the country.
Though she is gone, she’s definitely not forgotten by those in the MSU community.
On Tuesday night, kinesiology seniors Connor Sexton, Danielle Bott and others painted the rock on Farm Lane in her memory.
After Lacey died April 8 last year, Bott organized and painted the Rock, which sparked the viral campaign.
“It started off as a few of my friends (wanting to paint the rock), and then all of a sudden people were asking if we needed help,” Bott said.
This year, the rock was painted with the URL to the “Princess Lacey’s Legacy” website, the hashtag “#LoveLikeLacey” and Twitter account “@Support_Lacey” with the goal to spread awareness of her foundation, which was started by her parents.
Bott said Sexton approached her with the desire to do something to help raise awareness for her cause.
“I think for me, I might not be able to help in big monetary ways,” Bott said “But that small reminder of what we’re going through on campus is nothing compared to what some kids are going through is just as impactful.”
Through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, of which Sexton is a member, followed the tradition of the rock by guarding it to ensure it was not painted over.
Finance freshman Tyler Houtstra said they wanted to make sure the rock was ready for people to sign Wednesday.
“It would be a real bummer if people came out to sign it and there was something completely different there,” Houtstra said. “The only way they would paint over that is if they didn’t give it a second thought to read it.”
The fraternity was not specifically raising money for the cause “Princess Lacey’s Legacy” but instead was helping Sexton with the cause.
All day on Wednesday students, friends and family members of Lacey came out to sign the rock and leave messages for Lacey.
Among those were two of Lacey’s grandparents, Bonnie and Ed Holsworth from St. Johns.
Ed Holsworth said seeing the memorial for Lacey was very special to them since they never expected her story to go viral.
“She was the sweetest little thing, just a joyful little girl,” Bonnie Holsworth said. “We know we’ll see her again.”
