From KUT News:
Sunday marked one year since deadly floodwaters tore through the neighborhood of Sandy Creek in northwest Travis County. Dozens of people gathered at the Round Mountain School and Community Center along Big Sandy Creek to honor and remember the nine people who died.
“What that horrible disaster took was not fair and will never be forgotten,” Linda Hambrick, president of the Friends of the Round Mountain School, told the gathering. “And even through our tears, we’ve all come together to find a community that has been here for all these years unformed. We mourn what we’ve lost, and are now embracing what we’ve found.”
After a performance by a choir, a group of Boy Scouts unveiled a monument in front of the schoolhouse.
The simple structure resembles a cross and was created by Ramiro Bautista using steel recovered from flood debris. At its base are bricks engraved with the names of the people who died.
For Georgia Bishop, one name in particular stood out — her friend Felicity Jarmon.
“She was quiet, you know, she acted all sweet and quiet at first, before you got to know her, you know, and we just started talking, and we became close friends,” Bishop said.
Felicity, along with her brother, Braxton Jarmon, and stepmother, Alissa Martin, died after their home collapsed and was swept away by floodwaters. Only Felicity’s father, Jermaine Jarmon, survived.
Bishop said she still remembers the feeling that overcame her when she realized her 16-year-old best friend was missing. She had called one of their mutual friends to check on Felicity after she didn’t get a response to text messages or phone calls.
“She was like, ‘Georgia, the house is gone. Their house is gone, everything down the road is gone and they’re missing,'” Bishop said. “I’ll never forget, like that feeling that I instantly got after I heard those words come out of her mouth.”
Bishop, who graduated from Glenn High School in Leander in May, carried a portrait of Felicity with her as she accepted her diploma and walked the stage.
She said before the flood, the pair talked about traveling the world together after graduation.
Instead, last month, Bishop travelled to Washington, D.C. with a group called Extreme Weather Survivors to advocate for disaster relief.
Like many others in the community, Bishop and her mother remain displaced as a result of damage to their home from the flood.
Bishop said she doesn’t plan to stop sharing her story and talking about Felicity and Braxton anytime soon.
“Anytime I’ve thought of them, or if they’ve even popped up in my mind, I bring them up,” she said. “Because I believe … no one is ever truly gone … if we all just remember them and talk about them and speak about them, you know?”
In that way, Sunday’s memorial was the first step in keeping their names alive.
