Daizee was a blooming flower

Daizee Brooke Angus always had a smile on her face and her smile was contagious to those around her; whether they be fellow students, teachers or employees at McDonald's in Flomaton.

Angus, 19, a senior at Flomaton High School, was killed Friday night in a vehicle accident that has left her friends and family in shock.

According to reports released by the Florida Highway Patrol, Angus was traveling east on County Road 4A shortly after 8 p.m. when she failed to negotiate a curve and traveled onto the south shoulder. She overcorrected, traveled across the road and overturned about four times. Angus was ejected from the vehicle and then struck by two other vehicles traveling on the road. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Felicia Grice, a manager at McDonald's where Angus had worked for the past six or seven months, said Daizee was working the night she died. She had gone on break and never returned.

Grice said when word of Angus' death got out, her fellow employees were so upset she closed the restaurant early.

"They broke down," Grice said. "They had just seen her, just talked to her."

Grice said Angus was always happy and always smiling.

"Her favorite words were 'I love you'," she said. "She was just a lovable person who wanted everybody to be happy. She worked hard and was an all-around good girl."

"She was friends with everybody and didn't have a mean bone in her body," Grice added.

Jacob Coleman, a sophomore at Flomaton High School and fellow McDonald's employee, said everybody is still in shock.

"The last time we spoke we were yelling 'I love you' back and forth in the back," Coleman said of a night at McDonald's. "That's just the type person she was."

Coleman said that Friday night he got a text about Daizee's death and didn't believe it.

"I really didn't think it was true but then everybody started texting," he said. "I was in shock."

FHS senior Autumn Reed, who also works at McDonald's, said she'd known Daizee since she moved to Flomaton in the fifth or sixth grade.

"We were very, very close," Reed said. "She was the most unselfish person I knew. She'd do anything for anybody."

Reed said she's been working at McDonald's since October and it was Daizee who told her to apply for the job.

"We worked together most nights," she said. "She was always singing and dancing around when we weren't busy."

Reed said she wasn't working last Friday night but remembers getting the phone call.

"I didn't believe it at first," she said. "Then people kept calling. All I wanted to do was cry."

Shyanne Scott, a senior at W.S. Neal High School, first met Daizee in August when he went to work at McDonald's.

"We clicked the first day I got here," she said. "She welcomed me in and helped me learn everything the first day."

Scott said she came up on the scene of the crash and was turned away by law enforcement but didn't know who was involved in the crash.

It was later she learned is was Daizee.

"Like everybody else, I couldn't believe it, it just couldn't be true," Scott said. "It was very difficult to come back to work the next day, everybody was crying. She was amazing."

Reed summed it up by saying "She was one of a kind and she will always be remembered".

News of Daizee's death also hit teachers hard who had watched her grow up in the Flomaton schools.

Michael Parker said he had Daizee in elementary school and high school.

"You never heard anybody say anything bad about her," Parker said. "She was as sweet as she could be."

Parker said when he returned part-time to Flomaton High School, Daizee was the first person he saw when he arrived at 7 a.m.

"She was always sitting by the door to the high school ready to get in," Parker said. "She always had a smile on her face. I don't know of any teacher who ever had a problem with Daizee."

Parker said it's tough on teachers when one of the students dies because they've watched them grow up.

"It's hard on teachers and other kids," Parker said. "Happening at Christmas makes it even worse. I can't tell you what the family feels like, I can't relate. But it does change your life. I never saw her mad and she wouldn't harm a fly."

Luanne Henderson taught Daizee in the sixth grade at Flomaton and also remembered the smile she always had on her face.

"She was very sweet and always kind-hearted," Henderson said. "She was a loving girl and was liked by everyone."

Henderson said she also taught Daizee's two sisters.

"It's such a tragic loss," Henderson said. "It's heartbreaking. It just broke my heart when I found out."

Curt Bell said Daizee was in his Algebra II class this year and has had her in other classes as well.

"She was always somebody quick to say a kind word," Bell said. "She was always smiling and had a sweet outlook on everything. She tried to brighten up the day everyday of her life."

Bell said Daizee was a "very bright light in our school".

"Teachers looked forward to having her in their class," Bell said. "It's definitely a loss to us. It affects you. You have an impact on their lives, but they also have an impact on yours. You try to take something away from each student to be a better teacher."

Bell said teachers want to have a positive impact on students and it's not always about academics.

"We become their mentors, their counselors and their friends," Bell said. "We get to see sides of these students that many don't. Especially in a small school, it's a very, very tight-knit school. There's no bigger relationship than between a teacher and a student."

Bell noted there are many teachers at Flomaton who were students there as well. He noted he's begun teaching the children of students he once taught.

"We watch them grow up," Bell said. "They are like part of your family and it's tough on everybody when something like this happens."

Lewis Funeral Home in Milton, located at 6405 Highway 90, Milton, Fla., 32570, will be in charge of funeral arrangements. No arrangements had been made as of press time.

Friends of Daizee are working to raise money to assist with her funeral expenses. Donations can be made at McDonald's in Flomaton or directly to the funeral home at the above address. Checks to the funeral home should be made out to Karmen Cotton. For more information call 850-623-2243. Donations can also be made on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/amy.boutwell2/posts/1705763192777395.