shayna story  / Julie Kaliszewski (friend)

Working at Steve & Barry's was often extremely boring, until I met Shayna. I never knew folding t-shirts could be so much fun! I would listen to Shayna's funny stories and time would just fly by. Work would always be so much better when Shayna was there. She told me all about dancing and how it was her dream to be on broadway. She always talked about her family, especially her mom and dad.She said wonderful things about them and how she just wanted to make them proud. Shayna once said that she wouldn't know what to do if she couldn't dance, that she would just die if it wasn't possible. Maybe God didn't want to disappoint Shayna in anyway, so He made it so that she could dance forever.
   Shayna- I think about you and your family everyday. I thank God that I got the chance to meet you. Miss you so much girl!
<3 Julie

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I am so sorry!  / Ellie Tiegs (None)

I was looking for a site on day and accidentaly came to this one. I do not know any of you, but of all the notes i can see that Shayna was a great person. I know how you feel because I have an aunt that had an anurism. I really am sorry! But Shayna is with god and will have a great time up there until you get there! With love, everyday she waits for you,to someday, see her mommy and daddy and everyone else close to her.

Sorry to Shayna's family,
Ellie Tiegs

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pennies / Aunt Mary Kay (Aunt and Godmother )
Shay, we just got back from visiting your family in Erie. Miss you so much. We went to see you and  I gave you back one of the pennies that  I know you are sending me from heaven to let me know that you are thinking of me. Right before we left to come back to Pgh, I was putting on  my shoes in Zack's room (by the way Zack thanks for letting me and Uncle Bob sleep in your room all weekend), and I found a penny on the floor. You gave me one back. Miss and love you so much. Still hurts to come visit you but it gives me peace until I can go to Erie again. Your friends are leaving you so many things and I know they must all be hurting as much as we are. Watch over all of us. You will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you for all the memories that I have with you and thanks to all your friends for sharing theirs. Until we meet again-When I get the choice to sit it out or dance-I WILL ALWAYS DANCE! Close

all that jazz!  / Jessica Keller (friend)
Shay! so how about the other day i was cleaning out this huge box of pictures and i found like a whole roll of film from back in the day of 42nd street. common, all that jazz, gods love nubia.. BOHEMIAN! i have the best picture of you and i wearing those stupid hair wraps and another when you came to see me compete and rachel slept over too. so many memories from all our competitions and us just being idiots and getting in trouble all the time. i miss you like crazy shanayaaa. love you always. Close

chi chi's  / Clare Loveland (friend)
when shay and i were hostesses together at chi chi's people would leave the most random stuff on their tables at the restaurant, and all the servers would just dump this stuff at the hostess stand in case the people came back looking for it. we had purses, tons of glasses, cell phones, car keys... seriously -you name it, someone left it at the restaurant. oh, and we had balloons up there and a helium tank to blow up balloons for little kids... bad idea, haha. so one day i was coming into work and i guess shay saw me park and i walk in the door and shes wearing a huge pair of thick old-man glasses and had sucked the helium out of a balloon and in the squeaky-helium voice, half laughing, with this huge pair of glasses on she goes "hey clare!" ...i miss your goofiness, shay!! love you! Close

Grandma stole my earring story  / Vanessa Upperman (best friend )
Shayna and i were walking to quality markets covered in flour wearing beaters, huge sweat pants, our hair in corn roles and wearing bandanas, with big hoop earrings in our ears. Shayna started laughing and said that we looked really ghetto. As we were walking  this little old lady with a cane walks by us and gives us this dirty look. Me and Shayna start laughing. Shayna looks at me and says oh my gosh what if she steals my earrings... from that point we were talking like we were from brooklyn and this whole story came out about how this little old lady stole our earrings and we said we couldn't beat her up because she looked like our grandmother and how she was trying to beat us with her cane...It was by far the funniest story we ever came up with! (you can only fully understand it by doing it in a brooklyn accent) Close

MISS YOU  / CHARLENE (AUNT)
SHAYNA,SORRY I HAVEN'T WRITTEN  FOR AWHILE BUT THERE'S NOT A DAY THAT GOES BY THAT I DON'T THINK OF YOU AND SAY YOUR NAME I MISS YOU BABE AND STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS HAD TO HAPPEN. THANKS FOR THE PENNIES,I HAVE A GLASS JAR THAT HOLDS MY TOKENS FROM HEAVEN, I PRAY THAT YOU ACTUALLY TOUCHED THE PENNY AND THROUGH IT TO ME.SO I HOLD IT FOR A MOMENT,AND SMILE. ANGEL WAS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS AND BROUGHT HER PICTURE ALBUM FROM HER GIRLS FRIEND AND THERE WAS A REALLY NICE PICTURE OF YOU WITH ALL THE GIRLS. AT HER BRIDAL SHOWER. REMEMBER, YOU LOOKED SO GROWN UP AND SO VERY BEAUTIFUL. IT MADE ME CRY. BUT I AM SO VERY HAPPY THAT YOU WERE AT MINE AND JIMS WEDDING. IT WAS SUCH A HAPPY AND FUN TIME, OUR WHOLE FAMILY TOGETHER AGAIN.NOW I KNOW IT WAS MET TO BE,I WAS TO MEET JIM,FALL IN LOVE AND MARRY QUICK BEFORE ANGEL SO WE COULD ALL BE TOGETHER ONE LAST TIME,YOU ARE ALWAY ON MY MIND AND WILL ALWAY HAVE A HOLD ON MY HEART. IF YOU GET A CHANCE TO SEE MRS PITZ'S TELL HER WE LOVE HER TOO AND KEEP THROWING THOSE PENNIES FROM HEAVEN I LOVE YOU ,MISS YOU BADLY AND KNOW ONE DAY I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN GOD WILLING. Close

spelling -oops.  / Gram And Pap Stefanik (granparents)
Shay, Aunt Mary Kay typed our message and she even spelled our name wrong. Smart lady huh? Close

miss you  / Gram And Pap Stefamol (proud grandparents )
Shay, Just wanted to let you know that we are writing this message to you in Erie. We came to see your family and know that you are here with us. Me and Pap bought you an eternity candle for your dad to light for you. It represents the eternity that you share in heaven with all our loved ones that went before you. Me and Pap miss you so much. We always talk about you. Watch over us and keep us safe and healthly. We love you and know that  you will always have a place in our heart.   Close

Just thought of another one!  / Vanessa Upperman
We were sitting in Spanish class and Shayna forgot her glasses so she couldn't see a thing. She asked Mrs. Comstock if i could help her go and find them. As we were walking down the silent hall (classes were in going on) Shayna starts screaming down the hall and we start laughing so hard... I asked her why she was talking so loud and she said it was because she couldn't see so her other senses got stronger. i will never forget that day! Thats one of the stories u def. had to be there for!

And who can forget Halloween... SHayna and I dressed alike for halloween ever since the first day we met. We went from being Ninja Turtles to Prep Fairy's to almost being thing one and thing two.. we couldn't find red sweat pants ANYWHERE! i don't think anyone saw her as hyped up on candy as i ever have!! GREAT TIMES!!! Close

Crazy Memories  / Vanessa Upperman (Best friend )

Shay and I would sometimes go to her house after school and go swimming and jump on the trampoline. This one day we went there and we decided we were going to make some food. Shayna wanted to make pancakes. As i was getting eggs out of the fridge,i turn around and Shayna throws a handful of flour on my head. She runs out side with a bowl or flour and i grabbed a bag of it.From that point it was a full out flour war! we were covered from head to toe. Thats when we decided to WALK down cherry street to quality makets. Shayna and I Iooked like we just jumped into a pool full of flour. EVERONE was starring... it was by far the funniest moment. Also that was when the Grandma stole my earring story was invented.

That was also when me and Shay decided that we were going to move to Vegas and I was going to dye my hair blue and hers red and we were going to become professional wrestlers called "Fire and Ice"... haha that would have been a site to see!

SHay I love and miss you so much.... I'll always keep the memories close to my  heart! And remember... Spinderella cut it up one time!! I love ya Spindy!

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Waldameer (spider story)  / Vanessa Upperman (Best friend )

I remember the day that we went to Waldameer for my dads work picnic. When we got there we were just being crazy and running around, yelling stuff from the sky ride just having a blast. When we were waiting in line for the spider this pale skinny red headed kid wearing a starter t-shirt came in line. As soon as Shayna saw him she started busting out laughing and kept saying that , that was her boyfriend. When we got on the spider we were in the cart right next to the kid with the red hair. We were spinning so fast and laughing so hard. All of a sudden we hear a SPLAT!!! (Shay would always get excited when she said the SPLAT part) we look over and Shay's "Boyfriend" puked all over the side of the ride. We instantly looked at each other and started laughing. When we got off the ride we sat in front of the ride and laughed for about 20 min. Ever since that day she would always come up behind me and yell "STARTER"!

Another

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where do i start?  / Rachel Zang (friends since 4th grade )
where do i start? i have so many stories of shayna. shayna and i lived about 3 houses apart in a neighborhood in pittsburgh for about 4 or 5 yrs and we spent so many innocent nights together. we played capture the flag every night with the neighborhood kids and just ran around being young. shayna and i did everything together. she would often come over to keep me company while i babysat my little sister so that i would not have to be by myself and we frequently had sleepovers even though we were just a few houses apart. i got to watch her dance multiple times. once at the Elk's club in cranberry, once in "bye,bye birdie" in a little production, and i saw her dance in the nutcracker in Erie.

we did so many stupid things together. we toliet papered Ms. Patty's house, we played harmless pranks on the neighbors, and just enjoyed each other company. my favorite memory of shayna was before either of us could drive, but our friend ashley had just gotten her license and we were so excited to be able to go somewhere without a parent! so we bought a disposable camera and hopped into the car. the three of us drove around to the most random places like wal-mart and buger king or starbucks and took pictures with the drive through ppl and random customers inside the store. when they would ask why we wanted a picture shay would always responde, "we are part of a youth group and we are on a scavanger hunt for our church" and ppl were always more then happy to smile. the funniest part was the end of the night when we needed to get gas and none of us knew how to pump gas! it was quite ridiculous watching three girls tryin to figure out why the pump wasnt working. finally the guy yelled at us over the loud speaker. i cherish thoses stupid pictures from that night. my favorite being the picture of shayna in Toys-R-us riding a little bike made for a 5 yr old. haha!

shayna was such an excellent friend we were able to maintain friendships while we went to different schools in pittsburgh and remained friends when she moved to erie and the distance didnt effect our friendship one bit when i moved away from pittsburgh to cleveland, i still got her crazy phone calls tellin me all about her wkends and still came to visit her in erie several times and was able to be with her  for her last new years bring in the yr 2004.

shay - thank you for all the memories and i am truly blessed to have had so much time with you and so many laughs. i will forvere cherish our many nights on the trampoline just laying outside and talking.  you have brightened my life and i will never forget you. hang in there family, she is smiling down on all of us from heaven and dancing every day! Close

Christmas make-up story  / Aunt Mary Kay (Aunt/Friend)
Well, Shayna, just wanted to let you know that you are in my heart, as always, this Christmas. This is your second Christmas celebrating with Jesus in Heaven and oh what a celebration that must be. Watch over us at Gram's when we are together. I know you will be in everyone's heart there and truly, truly missed. You left us with a funny Christmas story your last Christmas with us.

Abby, who was only about 6, received make-up for a Christmas present probably from your mom, the girls love getting it from her. You and Abby went downstairs of Grams and made each other up.  Now you have a 6 year old and a 17 year old. You both walked up the steps with big smiles on your faces. Yours looked even bigger because of the amount of lipstick that you had on your lips and all around your lips too. Kind of clownish. Abby looked great and you did too. You just had a different look than we were used too. Alot of powder blue eyeshadow, lotsa blush and of course the clown lips. The best part of the whole make-up party though was that you kept it on for the longest time for Abby cause you knew that meant alot to her. We knew it didn't look quite right but Abby was sure she did a great job. That was our Shayna. You had fun with everything you did and with everyone you were with.

Thank you for all our memories. They are what is keeping us going. Thank you for the awesome pink skies. Last night's put tears in both mine and Uncle Bob's eyes. You are up there with us looking over us, I know it.

We love you very much and miss you so much. Enjoy your eternity in Heaven. You earned it. Watch over us and keep us strong. <3. You are forever in my heart.  Love Auntie M.

PS I'll make sure you get your tic-tacs for Christmas. Close

morp story  / Clare Loveland (friend <3 )
i remember when shayna and i dressed up alike to go to mps morp... for hoe down we decided to go as cowgirls. we went all over to get hats and flannel shirts and ended up spending like an hour n a half in salvation army just goofing around. then we went through eachothers closets looking for jean skirts or jeans, and we ended up both having a mix-match of eachother's clothes on -it was so much fun. haha, mrs stefanik, do you remember when we were trying on the outfits? we had short jean skirts on we rolled up the bottom of our flannel shirts and you thought it was so cute and then mr stefanik was like 'uhhhhh...' hahaha. i remember we planned it out like a week ahead of time and how excited we were. there's a picture of us in our outfits in the photos on this website too :)

merry christmas angel, i miss you more with everyday. Close

thought of another one...  / Emily Sukitsch (Friend)
I was sitting here listening to the radio and "I'll be missing you" came on the radio and I immediately thought of Shay. So I decided to write another quick story.

My senior year I was in Fibers and Fabrics with Shayna and when we learned how to crochet I was absolutely terrible at it. Even the teacher refused to help me with it, so I was pretty much on my own. We had to complete 2 granny squares for it, and I obviously wasn't going to do them because I couldn't do it, and was going to fail that section. Well, luck would have it that Shayna was extremely talented at it, and offered to finish mine for me. Of course, I accepted, and she did them for me and they were beautiful, and needless to say, I got the A. It was nothing huge, but to me it was. For some reason I can't find the squares...and trust me I've looked everywhere multiple times, so I'm hoping I'll find them.

I just wanted to share that story of how nice it was for her to do that for me, she certainly didn't have to, but I (and my A) appreciated it =o) Close

A Dad's Love  / John Stefanik (Dad)
I just wanted to thank everyone for taking time out of their bussy day to say something special about the Shayna we all love and miss. I wanted to add a few memories: I loved when someone told a joke, and Shayna would not get the punchline, and look at you and say "I don't get it, and then 10 min. later she would start laughing, and say" I got it". I also loved when she would look at you and say " Whatttttttttttttttttt? This is another Christmas that Shayna is spending with Jesus. I hope that Shayna will be in everyone's heart, and when you open a special present, just start to laugh. I'm sure Shayna will say "I got it". Thank you everyone, my your Christmas be full of health, happiness,and love. Shayna loved each and everyone of you. Close

My Shay  / Anthony Paparelli (Best Friend/Danced with Shay/Roommate )
O Shay - there are so many memories and so many things that I could say about you. The best memories I have of you are the ones that make me laugh the most. Like how I met you in Sophomore Theology class and you sat right behind me and we would always get yelled at for talking. I will never forget those days of getting to know eachother and really just talking. I miss those days. I remember how we planned to go to NYC together and just audition for everything and anything we could. Our dreams to work for Disney and to dance on Broadway or be in companys. Every time I think of those dreams I immediately think of you. I don't know what I would have done without meeting you. You taught me so many things about how to dance and although you weren't always the easiest on me it made me that much better of a person. All the memories that everyone is leaving about you are amazing and make me reeaaaallllllllyyyyyyy laugh. I wish you were here with me Shay, dancing in college and living out your dreams. It is so lonely sometimes without you and I often think about how different things would be if you were here and if we were living together. I will always and forever be one of your best friends and roommate. I never stop dancing even when it gets extremely hard because I know you would'nt have stopped so I won't let myself. I am trying to live my life in the way you would have lived yours. Well, I got to run Shay - jazz class and I know you wouldn't want me to miss that! I promise I will come back and write more memories of you! I love you so much roomie! Love Always and Forever, Anthony Close

funny phone call... and the apt. in pittsburgh  / Erin Marks
 I remember when i finished my audition for Point Park and the only person i wanted to talk to was Shayna. So i called her, not realizing it was friday afternoon and everyone was still in school. Well, she answered in a really low wisper- she said she had to be quiet because she was in physics class but she wanted to hear how the audition went... so i talked to her for a few minutes as she was hiding from Mrs. Swanson behind her bookbag... it was hilarious- i couldnt believe that she actually answered her phone - i always remember that and think of how great a friend shay was. She was amazing- and the fact that she answered her phone during class made me feel really good- knowing that I had an awesome best friend...
  Another little story that has to do with pittsburgh and point park... was the day we went down to see the apartment that she was gona live in when we went to college. I remember how excited she was that she was gona live there- and she thought it was so awesome that her family got it for her and fixed it up a little... she loved the pink dining room that Cyndie painted.. it was so cute-  Shay ate her last meal there on the dining room table - a wendy's jr. bacon cheeseburger with fries- And i just remember her excitement- She kept jumping up and down screaming and hugging me bc she was sooooooo excited!!!! She absolutely loved her apartment and having that memory of her huge smiles is priceless...
   Although that was shayna's last day here, she could not have been happier throughout the entire day... i mean we did everything that she loved- we danced, went to the beach, went shopping, she saw her friends, talked to Cyndie and John , and saw the amazing apt. - I feel so lucky for being able to share such a great day with her... She was really an amazing girl and a great friend.  But im so glad that we have all of these memories of her to make this time a little easier. 

*miss u shay* <3 Close

Dancing Makeup  / Mom
We we lived in Pittsburgh, Shayna was on a competive dance team and had competitions very early in the morning.  As we left our house at about 6AM Shayna was dressed in her sweat pants and sweatshirt but was in full makeup for the competion.  Heavy eyeliner, false eyelashes, bright red lip stick and her hair was down.  I remember we came to a red light next to a little old man and woman.  Needless to say, they tried to stare at her without being obvious.  You could tell by their expressions that all they saw was heavy make-up like she spent the night on a street corner.  It was so funny, we laughed and made jokes about how they were staring and what they were imagining.  I realize that some of these stories are....you just had to be there.  But I wanted to share it just the same.   Close