“Trouble” With Ambition To Spare
True to her Aries zodiac sign, Abbey was a trendsetter, leader, and adventurer. Spritzed with sugary sweet perfume, sporting mile-long lashes and fingernails, and brandishing a “don’t mess with me” attitude, she took the world by storm with fierce intellect and sharp wit. Thoughtful, multitalented, intrepid, and creative, she loved and embraced life and those with whom she shared it. Her older sister Haley, affectionately dubbed “Hay-Hee,” along with lifelong friends Jessica, Jexi, Grace, Anna, and Abigail, are left with memories of endless play dates, inside jokes, shopping trips, and impromptu video and photo shoots. Spontaneous and unique, but sweet to the core, her boundary-pushing antics never rubbed people the wrong way. Parents Jim and Beth recall their daughter’s cuddly, playful, vivacious stylishness. Beth recalls fondly, “Abbey found the fun. She WAS the fun.”
Behind porcelain skin and azure eyes laid the soul of a creator. Ambition began with she and Abbey and her sister running a neighborhood lemonade and cookie stand, leading to her traveling to London to attend the MET Film School, then acceptance into an exclusive program, the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing from Chapman University. Thereafter, she secured an internship at Power 106 in Los Angeles, an editor/writer position at Her Campus Media, and additional internships at WMUR-TV and Arlook Group in Beverly Hills. At twenty-two, she had a resumé more befitting someone twice her age. Despite her accomplishments, love of trends, fashion, song, and style, and her fierce dedication to her beliefs and an affinity for animals made her as approachable as she was influential.
When Abbey lived in California, she missed the clouds and the rain of the Northeast, so trips home involved snuggles inside with Netflix and the family cat, Sabrina. Her grandfather, the one who dubbed her “Trouble” from a young age, had such a profound influence on her that she had a ring of fire tattooed on a finger to pay homage to his love of Johnny Cash. Gestures like this one, and her free-flowing, conversational nature with her mother, showed her sensitive side and observant nature. Within her imaginative mind, though, depressive disorder dwelled. Secretive tendencies made it tough to see the truth of her circumstances. Combating this, she created a “100 Goals List,” which included marrying someone she loved, writing a memoir, living in New York City, adopting a child, and loving herself.
Substance misuse began after a back injury. Abbey was forty-three days into sobriety, living at a Sober Living House, when fentanyl claimed her life. That very night, her parents were celebrating in Nashville. The trip home was sobering as they tried to “act normal” in the face of tragedy. Many celebrations of life followed, including a birthday party attended by loved ones in “Abbey outfits.” To this day, her family, and friends celebrate her avant-garde style, innate confidence, and the memories she created in the years she so fully lived.
Abbey’s mother, Beth Hirsch, provided the information for this narrative.
March 23, 1996-November 15, 2018-Age 22
Portrait Artist: Clayton Conner
Narrative Writer: Jill Denton
