In memoriam: Meghan Freas

Throughout her life, Meghan Freas loved to learn about languages. In high school, she studied… Throughout her life, Meghan Freas loved to learn about languages. In high school, she studied German, Latin, Arabic and Spanish and enrolled in the Harrisburg Area Community College during her senior year to take two additional semesters of Arabic.

She also understood bits of French, Russian and Turkish and recited a multitude of foreign phrases to her friends whenever they got together.

It came as no surprise to her friends and family when Meghan decided to major in linguistics during her first semester at the University of Pittsburgh and wanted to study abroad.

“She was always saying something in random languages and would make a joke about it afterwards,” said Chelsea Jones, one of her friends from the University.

Freas, an 18-year-old sophomore from Camp Hill who started at Pitt last fall, died at 10:15 p.m. on May 5 at York Hospital, a week after she was seriously injured in a head-on car crash on Interstate 83 in Shrewsbury Township, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Last fall, Jones met Meghan through an acquaintance from Camp Hill Senior High School and said that her outgoing and goofy personality allowed them to quickly become friends.

“When we first met, Meghan’s sense of humor attracted me,” said Jones. “Everybody had fun around her, and she always made people feel comfortable. She was constantly using accents and making jokes.”

Besides languages, Meghan also loved to travel and experience different cultures, said her mother, Brenda Eppley.

“She embraced the idea of diversity and loved meeting individuals from every culture and ethnic background,” she said. “It was only natural for her to pursue international travel. She had been to Egypt, England and the Caribbean and spent six weeks last summer living with a family in Turkey.”

When Meghan was in fourth grade, she moved from Carlisle to Camp Hill and lived there with her mother and stepfather, said Anna West, one of Meghan’s best friends. On weekends, she visited her father and stepmother in Baltimore, Md. Freas was also very close with her stepbrother and half-sister.

In high school, West recalled how Meghan helped to plan all of the school’s spirit activities, including homecoming, as a member of the Pep Club. She also participated in Quiz Bowl and theater.

“She was just an all-around great person who loved life,” said West. “She was the very definition of joie de vivre.”

Clare Ferrari, Meghan’s best friend since sixth grade, said that Meghan had a personality that lit up the room and possessed the ability to make her friends laugh during conversations.

“Everyone always loved her for who she was,” said Ferrari. “Nothing ever held her back from fulfilling her dreams.”

Known as “Button” by her mother, Eppley said Meghan was genuinely interested in what people had to say and was an excellent listener.

“Megs was selfless and had a wonderful altruistic nature,” she said.

Meghan’s fun-loving, friendly personality especially stood out to Jones when they attended a Christmas party together in Pittsburgh last December. Even though Meghan did not know many people there, Jones said she instantly made friends and connected with nearly everyone in the room.

“She was a remarkably loyal person to her friends, and she was so caring even about people that she didn’t know very well,” said Jones.

Even though she transferred to the Harrisburg Area Community College after her first semester at Pitt, Jones said that she still made sure to stay in contact with her friends in Pittsburgh.

“She wanted to visit Pitt and stay in touch with us,” said Jones. “She taught people how important friendships were and taught us how to be loyal friends to each other.”

Emily Keammerer, one of Meghan’s friends who studied with her at the community college and worked with her in the school’s theater box office, agreed that Meghan always cherished her close friends.

“Meghan was the best person to go to when you were having a rough day,” she said. “She would just randomly say something to make you smile. I will miss the random text messages that I used to get from her.”

Keammerer also added that Meghan was the master of catch phrases. She remembered how she would say expressions like “These are my words; use your words!” and “Hey, I know you!” to her friends.

“I swear every week she would have a new thing to say,” said Keammerer.

Like many young people, Meghan’s Facebook profile displays her collage of interests. Some of her favorite bands included The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane and The Guess Who.

“Meghan loved all music,” said Keammerer. “When we would work together in the box office, we would listen to anything from techno, Feist, rap and Celtic music.”

Meghan’s love for music was even apparent when West used to drive Meghan to school during their junior and senior years of high school. West recalled how Meghan would scold her for not listening to good radio stations in the car.

“96.1 was her favorite,” she said. “It was an oldies station. She loved old music, especially Ella Fitzgerald.”

In addition to music, Meghan enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series and went with West to Barnes and Noble for the midnight release of the sixth book.

“We both finished it within 24 hours,” said West. “Then we went back to the same Barnes and Noble and dissected the book chapter by chapter. It was the nerdiest, most awesome thing that I have ever done.”

Meghan never finished the seventh Harry Potter book since it came out over the summer while she was in Turkey, but West said that she was in the process of reading each chapter out loud to her at night.

Although Meghan Freas wanted to learn more languages and dreamed about traveling to other places during her lifetime, she wrote on her Facebook profile that “the simpler things in life go unappreciated by most people.”

“I don’t think I enjoy anything in life more than laughing and laughter,” she wrote. “Life’s not worth living without it.”

“I will always remember her fiery red hair,” said West. “That was her defining physical characteristic. And her smile and laugh. She had the best teeth that I have ever seen.”

Eppley said her daughter taught her forgiveness and unconditional love.

“She didn’t hold grudges and preferred to see the positive side in every situation,” she said.

To Ferrari, Meghan’s sparkling personality and sky-lighting smile allowed her to become a part of everyone who surrounded her.

“I feel so privileged for every second that I had the honor of knowing that girl,” she said. “She will always be my best friend, the one who knows everything about me. She was the most trustworthy person I knew.”