dies from prom night wreck

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

A prom night accident has claimed the life of its second victim.

Just over a week after the fatal accident on April 21, Rasheda Mayor, 17, died Monday at a Birmingham hospital.

Maynor, a junior at Charles Henderson High School, was seriously injured when the vehicle in which she was a passenger overturned just after 11 p.m. on U.S. 231, just north of Troy.

Since the night of the accident that killed Maynor’s prom date, CHHS senior Todd Pennington, 19, of Troy, she was listed in critical condition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center’s Nuclear Intensive Care Unit.

Zakiya Henderson was shocked by the news because she had traveled to Birmingham on Sunday and talked to Maynor’s mother.

"She would probably tell us to keep our heads up," Henderson said of the friend with whom she shared some time at the CHHS prom.

Henderson said she will remember her classmate and co-worker at Kentucky Fried Chicken as "funny, outgoing and always smiling."

CHHS junior Quentin White will remember the times he and Mayor would "trip out" in class, making everyone, including teachers, laugh.

"I will remember her for her character and the way she carried herself," said White, whose red eyes showed the recent tears.

"I will always remember her," White said. "She’ll always have a place in my heart."

Henderson said Mayor would likely remind her classmates to "come together" in their mourning.

"She didn’t let negative things get her down," Henderson said.

White said Maynor would likely tell her classmates "it will be all right" during this time of sadness.

Maynor had suffered a severe head injury and several broken bones ­ ankle, hip, arm, collar bone ­ and some facial fractures.

Since the accident, CHHS principal Linda Felton has been updating the students on Maynor, regularly.

"They’ve been genuinely concerned and hoped she’d be back on this campus," Felton said of the students who continually asked about Maynor’s condition.

"It’s hard because they thought she could pull through," Felton said of the students she gave the bad news to Monday afternoon.

Felton said Maynor was liked by many students and teachers and "always had a pleasant smile" on her face.

Pennington and Maynor were returning to Troy after having dinner at a Montgomery restaurant when the accident occurred. Both had attended the callouts at the CHHS prom prior to traveling to Montgomery.