By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

WOODVILLE, Va. — Following summer work with Rose Hill Veterinary Practice in nearby Washington, Va., Woodville teenager Emily Hilscher started her freshman year at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University last fall, majoring in animal science through its College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

On April 21, Hilscher’s family and friends memorialized the 18-year-old in a private service at Rappahannock County High School (RCHS), also in Washington, from where she graduated almost a year ago.

Various news agencies report the Virginia Tech student was one of the first two people shot and killed early in the morning of April 16 by fellow student Cho Seung-Hui, while in her dormitory on campus. Cho allegedly killed 30 other students and faculty, and wounded 15 more, in the hours following, before taking his own life.

While the world around them noisily speculated on and blogged about the reasons behind the 33 deaths last week, the neighbors of tiny Woodville quietly mourned the loss with parents Eric and Elizabeth Hilscher and their family.

Requests for phone interviews with Rose Hill veterinarians and high school faculty, as well as with related agencies, were politely denied as employees explained the Hilschers’ wish for privacy. The memorial service was to be closed to the press. (Representatives of Virginia Tech were contacted, but did not provide further information on Hilscher’s school activities by press time.)

“The family will be in a celebrating (her life) stage at some point,” RCHS Principal Roger Mello said, “but right now, we’re just trying to support them in this.”

In a statement released by RCHS last week, Mello wrote, “Emily wanted to change the world and, given time, she undoubtedly would have.”

According to her obituary, Hilscher was an animal lover, skilled horsewoman and cook. Her family wished the world to know that “her free and imaginative spirit and innate talents led to the creation of a variety of artistic treasures that she shared with those whom she loved.”

A website credited as Hilscher’s MySpace.com page lists an article written by Rappahannock County author Walker Elliott Rowe in 2003 for the Rappahannock News, featuring an interview with Hilscher, then 14, who boarded her horses Luigi and Flojack at Moody Aylor’s Sperryville, Va., training and riding center.

According to Rowe, Hilscher took lessons from Aylor, who taught her horse-jumping skills, after which she began pony racing. By that time, Hilscher had already raced at the Gold Cup and local hunt club races, and her mother related a story of her daughter’s determination to get back on a horse after breaking her arm on a ride at the age of eight.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested through Found and Sons Chapel that donations be made in Hilscher’s name to the Rappahannock Animal Welfare League, P.O. Box 396, Amissville, VA 20106.

An online guestbook is available at www.foundandsons.com
According to the Wabash Plain-Dealer in Indiana, two of Virginia Tech’s faculty who had earned advanced degrees from Purdue University were also among those killed on April 16. G. Vasudevan Loganathan, 51, was a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Kevin Granata, 45, was a professor of engineering science and mechanics.

Information from MSNBC.com and the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia also contributed to this report.

This farm news was published in the April 25, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.