PBHS teen remembered
by classmates, family, community





Family wait for the balloon release in honor of Artisha Rainey on Wednesday at Pine Bluff High School.
(Phyllis Stokes/Pine Bluff Commercial)

By Phyllis Stokes

Of The Commercial Staff

 

Pine Bluff High School’s football field was charged with energy Wednesday afternoon as the bleachers filled with people who gathered to celebrate the life of Artisha Rainey.

 

Several hundred students, faculty and family members — many of them carrying red, white and black balloons — took their seats under sunny skies, waiting to participate in a memorial balloon release honoring 18-year-old Artisha, who died in a single-car accident Friday evening. The senior was minutes away from her home when she lost control of her vehicle on Hazel Street near 37th Avenue.

 

The crowd stood, cheered and applauded as Artisha’s parents, Arthur Rainey and Emil and Monica Pritchett, arrived at the stadium for the event. In a previous interview, Monica Pritchett said she spoke to her daughter on the phone moments before the crash “She told me she couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I asked her where she was, but all she could say was ‘Momma’ … she said ‘Jesus.’ ”

 

“She was on her way home,” said Artisha’s father, Arthur Rainey. “She was only four blocks away.” Pine Bluff Police Department spokesman Officer Richard Wegner said the accident is still under investigation and no new information has been released.

 

“We are not here to mourn,” art teacher Virginia Hymes said as she set the celebratory tone at Wednesday’s event . “We want to encourage you to uplift her (Artisha’s) beautiful legacy by doing the right thing everyday. Let’s show her how much we love her.”

 

Members of the band provided instrumentals as students on the field and in the stands locked arms in solidarity. One group chanted to the beat, “We miss you Tisha. ”

 

To further uplift the crowd, Principal Michael Nellums said,“We are here to celebrate all the times that she made us all smile, and laugh and when she was silly and goofy … and we all remember those days. “Today we are just happy to express our love and support and show the world that we are going to miss her., that she is gone but not forgotten.”

 

Classmates Sabreen Jolley and Charla Taylor followed Nellums with a poem titled, “After the Sunset.” “We never really get over a passing, we just adjust to it,” Jolley said. “Just like Tisha adjusted to her new life in the kingdom of peace after the sun had set.” Members of the Watson Chapel High School student body contributed to the celebration with a note read by Hymes.

 

Presentations by the Pine Bluff High School baseball team and drama club to Artisha’s parents followed. Ajia Richardson, credited with facilitating the event, took the podium. Before a moment of silence, she again charged the students to continue doing their best every day as a way to honor Artisha’s memory.

 

“This is a wonderful demonstration of love by the students, faculty members and the community,” said Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Linda Watson.“We need to keep this family in our prayers. It’s very difficult for any family to go through this, but God is able.”

 

Arthur Rainey said he was overwhelmed by the show of support. “Just seeing all the love that was shown to my daughter, it makes me proud. I know that I loved my daughter, but just to see the city of Pine Bluff show so much love for her is unbelievable,” he said. “She could be the life of the party and was goofy, but at the same time she just had that glow about her ever since she was born.”

 

Rainey — who said both he and his daughter have suffered from asthma — said he believes a panic attack may have caused Artisha to lose control of her vehicle.

 

Rainey said he has been in the military for much of Artisha’s life, but the two had a special relationship. “I talked to her every day,” he said. He said he will remember her smile, her laughter and the good times they shared. “But mostly, I’ll remember hearing her call me Daddy,” he said.