Petermans remember daughter with hope, kindnes

Carrie Peterman displays the proclamation presented to her by Milford’s City Council on Monday night proclaiming March 25 as “Random Acts of Kindness Day” in Milford, in memory of her daughter MadisonCarrie Peterman was tired of feeling so sad and depressed when her daughter Madison’s birthday rolled around every March 25.

Milford Beacon
Received at http://www.milfordbeacon.com/article/20150311/NEWS/150319951/2025/NEWS

By Mike Finney
mike.finney@doverpost.com
@MikeOnMilford

Posted Mar. 11, 2015 at 1:17 PM
Carrie Peterman was tired of feeling so sad and depressed when her daughter Madison’s birthday rolled around every March 25.

But it had been almost impossible for the Peterman family not to feel overwhelmed on that day considering that Madison, her grandmother Sandy Peterman and her friend Hannah Davies, were all killed when a propane truck collided with their vehicle on April 13, 2009.

There still was this strange, almost contradictory feeling, that seemed to hover over the Peterman family, along with many of Madison’s friends, when they gathered at the cemetery on Madison’s birthday to celebrate her life.

That’s because while they were all feeling sadness, that was not at all what Madison was about during her short nine years on earth. She was about happiness – and giving.

So last year Carrie Peterman and her family and friends decided to change the tone of March 25, instead encouraging others to perform random acts of kindness on that day.

The change has meant the world to the Peterman’s.

“[Madison’s] birthday was a very special day for us and the last couple of years celebrating it have been very sad,” Carrie Peterman said. “We would go to the cemetery and it was really sad there and all of her friends were sad and I didn’t want it to be that way anymore.

“We always made her birthday a very special, very beautiful, day. To see her friends and my family struggle that day just wasn’t right.

“So a family member suggested this and we challenged initially just family and friends to do this [random acts of kindness] and then it just took off and took a life of its own.”

Mayor Bryan Shupe presented the Peterman family with a proclamation from the City of Milford at its town council meeting on Monday night, proclaiming March 25 as Random Acts of Kindness Day in Milford.

The town of Harrington will do the same in Madison Peterman’s memory at its next city council meeting on March 16.

“It’s a situation that you don’t ever want to see any family go through, especially a local family that everyone knows and loves so well,” Shupe said. “My heart goes out to them that they’ve turned a tragic situation into something that’s promoting acts of kindness and promoting a general well-being for the community.”

Alexis Warfel, 14, was Madison’s best friend. She remembers going to the cemetery and tying notes to balloons and releasing them on her friend’s birthday, symbolically sending messages to heaven.

“I think Madison’s birthday is a happy day now for others to be happy,” Warfel said. “I just really remember Madison’s kindness towards everyone.”

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