http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs....502100304/1002
Timberline Church is opening its doors this weekend to Colorado State University's Greek community and the parents of Samantha Spady - the 19-year-old CSU sophomore who died Sept. 5 of acute alcohol poisoning.
Rick and Patty Spady are expected to speak at all five weekend services at the church, 2908 Timberline Road.
Patty Spady said she plans to thank the congregation and the community for their support in the days and months after her daughter's death.
The Rev. Reza Zadeh of Timberline Church, who serves on the Sam Spady Foundation board of directors, said the church wants to show the Spadys and CSU's Greeks "how much we care for them."
Members of the sorority that Sam Spady belonged to her freshman year, Chi Omega, and three other fraternities and sororities also are expected to attend.
"At the end of the services, we will honor them and let them know we're behind them," Zadeh said.
Accepting the church's invitation was "the least we could do," Spady said in a telephone interview from her home in Beatrice, Neb.
Zadeh and Timberline "have shown such support in trying to help change the culture (of alcohol at CSU)," she said.
Patty Spady also plans a special message for the girls from Chi Omega.
"They're a neat group of girls, and I know the tragedy they've experienced has been just as difficult," Spady said. "They have tried to help our healing process, and we've tried to help them. We can't thank them enough."
Patty Spady said her daughter's sorority sisters "have been so wonderful and supportive with their words and phone calls.
"You can never replace a daughter, but through them I feel like I still have a connection not only with Sam, but with the whole college environment."
Patty Spady said her daughter loved CSU and Fort Collins. And, the support she's received from the community since Sam's death "has been uplifting," even as her family continues to take life a day at a time.
Forming the Sam Spady Foundation to educate young people about the dangers of alcohol and alcohol poisoning has helped them stay focused on something positive.
"Our main focus is to help in some way," Patty Spady said. "The culture didn't start overnight, and it will not go away overnight. We hope that Sam made a difference while she was here, and we hope that in her death she continues to make a difference."
Timberline Church is turning the fraternity house in which Spady died into apartments and a community center.
The Sigma Pi fraternity was disbanded four days after Spady's body was found in an unused room. Now, the house - owned by a corporation of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity alumni - is being leased by Timberline.
Zadeh said he hopes to have the house, to be called Lighthouse, open by the end of July.
Redecorating begins Feb. 19-20 when a group of volunteers will work in shifts to clean up the house. Zadeh is seeking donations for new tile, carpet, furniture and paint.
"It's neat to see everyone come together to see this change from something so tragic into something so positive," Zadeh said. "Everything came out of what happened to Sam Spady."
Originally published February 10, 2005
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