Wayne and Lori Earl share Esther Earl’s passion and love for life during Common Read presentation

HANCEVILLE – Esther Earl was interested in hope, love, family and the mysteries of life.
Esther Earl was adventurous, fearless, passionate, caring and thoughtful.
Esther Earl was an inspiration to hundreds of individuals across the globe during her short 16 years and continues to be after dying in 2010 after a battle of thyroid cancer.
Wayne and Lori Earl, the parents of Esther Earl, visited Wallace State Community College in Hanceville recently to discuss the life and positive impact their late daughter has made on so many. Esther Earl inspired The New York Times best seller “The Fault in Our Stars,” written by John Green, which Wallace State is using this academic year as its Common Read selection.
“Esther lived life fully. She was full of passion. Esther had a story. I have a story. John Green wrote a story. You have a story. You have words that you can use to make things happen,” said Lori Earl. “We don’t always have a choice. We don’t get to choose what happens to us but we do get to choose how we respond. Some of you may have awful things in your life that hold you back and keep you down and make you feel like you can’t have any success. We don’t have to let those obstacles hold us back. We have the words ‘passion’ and ‘love’ in our hearts to make a difference in this world.”
Esther Earl was Wayne and Lori’s third child. She was a peacemaker and got along with anyone she came in contact with. She loved to read, she loved adventure and loved gymnastics.
When Esther was 12 years old, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It didn’t stop Esther from embracing the positive aspects of life.
Wayne Earl said his daughter left him, through her battle with cancer, with a better understanding about the mysteries of life.
“Esther taught me about a deeper appreciation for the mystery of life. That’s what the dedication page is about in her book. There are good and bad mysteries. There are things that happen to us that we are excited about and we don’t understand and there are things that happen to us that are very bad and we don’t understand why. We take a lot of time and introspection and get torn up trying to figure out these mysteries. Sometime we just don’t have the answers,” Wayne Earl said. “Bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to good people, and that’s just the way life is.”
Esther was also full of hope and love.
“Esther taught me to be a student of hope. She was relentlessly optimistic and seriously sassy. During her pain, Esther chose to focus on hope and hope gave her an opportunity to engage life rather than to be threatened by this part of life that we call dying,” Wayne Earl said.
After Esther’s initial cancer diagnosis, she struck up a personal connection and friendship with author John Green at a 2009 Harry Potter convention. Esther was also an avid blogger, establishing a huge online following through Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube, and kept a detailed journal. Green was inspired by Esther Earl to pen “The Fault in Our Stars” through their initial meeting and Esther’s subsequent journal and online entries.
Esther Earl’s journal collections and online postings were published earlier this year in “This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl.” It also became a New York Times best seller. The book was compiled by the Earls as a dedication to their daughter’s courageous life.
Wayne and Lori Earl cited from “This Star Won’t Go Out” during their presentation at Wallace State.
“We had to ask ourselves if Esther would want to share her diaries with the world. That’s how she found herself and how we all find ourselves through the good times and the bad,” Wayne Earl said. “She was aware of the gift she had and loved to write.”
Added Lori Earl: “I think how amazed Esther would be or how blessed she would be to know both books inspire so many people. She chose to live life to the fullest.”
Near her final days, Esther tweeted that if she had three talents she would reach into bodies to remove cancer without hurting them and be able to dance and share words.
Esther’s birthday was Aug. 3. Since 2011, Harry Potter enthusiasts and Nerdfighter fans gather on her birthday at LeakyCon in Orlando to celebrate Esther’s life. It’s labeled Esther Day.
“Esther was all about family and love and telling people that you love them, especially saying it to those you don’t normally say it to,” Lori Earl said. “The event in Orlando keeps getting bigger and bigger. There were nearly 5,000 people at the event in August that all sent out postcards to people they love. We sang together and thousands and thousands of confetti stars fell from the roof. It was pretty amazing.”
Since Esther’s death, the Earls, who have four other children ranging from ages 25 to 11, have established This Star Won’t Go Out foundation, a non-profit venture designed to serve families who have children facing life-threatening cancer.
The Earls visit was sponsored by Wallace State’s Common Read and the college’s Sigma Kappa Delta English Honor Society.
For more information about Wallace State, visit wallacestate.edu.

Wayne and Lori Earl recently visited Wallace State to discuss Esther Earl’s inspirational life in conjunction with Wallace State’s Common Read, “The Fault in Our Stars.” During their presentation, they also cited passages from “This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl.”
 
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Russell Moore
Staff Writer
Wallace State Community College
P.O. Box 2000, Hanceville, AL 35077
1-866-350-9722    256-352-8443 direct
Visit us online at www.wallacestate.edu
 
Kristen Holmes
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