Loving, talented, genuine, beautiful, miraculous.
Paige was always a shy person, but the one place she had no reserves was in sports. Paige began roller skating about four and by the age of eight, she was a prolific skater who won several awards. Her mother, Andrea, recalls a time in 2001 when she promised Paige that if she placed at the national skate championship, she would rent a limo for Paige and her friend. “That year, Paige won a bronze medal and got her limo ride. She and her friend had their arms out the window celebrating the entire way home,” Andrea recalls laughing. By 4th grade, she began playing basketball and volleyball, which she also excelled at and continued playing well into high school.
Paige loved her family and was especially close with her father, Michael, who was her best friend. He was an outdoorsman and a competition bass fisher who loved taking his family camping. Paige relished fishing with her father. One year after her father’s cancer diagnosis, Paige and her father’s fishing partner entered and won a competition to raise money for his treatment. Another example of Paige’s kind heart is the time her father had a heart attack when Paige was thirteen. To ease his burden, she took over most of his yardwork.
Around the age of fifteen, Paige’s mother encouraged her to sign up to volunteer at the local hospital, thus began Paige’s dream of becoming a nurse like her grandmother. After high school, she received her certification as a medical assistant from Dawn Institute and was working as an assistant in a cardiology practice. Shortly before she passed, she enrolled in school to be a phlebotomistand was aspiring to be an RN.
Paige was also looking forward to being a wife and mother. She was engaged to the father of her child and five weeks before her death; she had given birth to her beautiful daughter, Madison Paige. They conceived Madison the day after her father’s passing, and Paige always said that Madison was her father’s last gift to her. Madison not only carries on her great-grandmother’s name, but she also carries on her mother’s love of sports and the outdoors. Andrea says she loves watching her granddaughter play soccer and swing on Paige’s childhood swing set.
Paige’s addiction started in her freshman year of college after she got in an accident and was prescribed opioids. Her mother says the hardest part of living with someone with substance use disorder was watching her become unrecognizable and seeing how comfortable she became lying to and manipulating the people she loved. Andrea says she misses Paige’s smile, playing with her hair, and her hugs and cuddles. Andrea has since started a nonprofit called, ‘Heavenly Kisses from Paige,’ that hands out purses with feminine hygiene products to women in need.
Paige’s Mom, Andrea Clemm, provided information for this narrative.
June 11, 1993 – April 14, 2018-Age 24
Portrait Artist: Maia Palmer
Narrative Writer: Victoria Estes
