XPost: ca.environment, la.media, oc.general   
   XPost: sac.sports   
   From: daily.liberal@gazette.com   
      
   In her Facebook pictures, Ashley Mead usually had three things   
   on her: A gigantic smile, her unique fashion sense and her 1-   
   year-old daughter, Winter.   
      
   "She was just such an individual," said her friend, Morgan   
   Jeknavorian. "She always had just such an amazing smile. And   
   she'd wear crazy tie-dyed legging and shirts with sharks and   
   Godzilla and birds on them.   
      
   "And she was the best mother I've ever met. She's motivation for   
   how I want to be when I have a kid."   
      
   Friends and family are mourning the 25-year-old mother after   
   police revealed Friday that she was likely killed in Boulder   
   last weekend. Her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child, Adam   
   Densmore, has been charged with first-degree murder.   
      
   Mead grew up in Warren, a city of about 10,000 in northwest   
   Pennsylvania.   
      
   "There's no words to describe what that girl had," said Amelia   
   Perry, who met Mead about 11 years ago in Pennsylvania. "That   
   girl lived more than anyone else I know."   
      
   "She was an old soul," Perry added. "Ashley could tell stories.   
   She was so full of life. Everything was an adventure."   
      
   The next adventure for Mead was school, and she moved to   
   Shreveport, La., to attend Centenary College of Louisiana before   
   transferring to LSU-Shreveport. Jeknavorian met her while the   
   two were working at the same restaurant, and lived together for   
   a time.   
      
   Mead would often walk into Jeknavorian's closet and find an   
   outfit Jeknavorian hadn't worn because it was too outlandish,   
   then add it to the eccentric wardrobe she paired with her   
   trademark "big silly glasses."   
      
   "She would show up in my dress and just be rocking it,"   
   Jeknavorian said. "She could never be caught wearing something   
   anybody else would wear."   
      
   Mead got into a bad car accident while studying, and the time   
   off from school and the mounting bills prevented Mead from   
   finishing her studies.   
      
   "She was so smart," Perry said. "But I think she kind of wanted   
   to do everything, and didn't know what she wanted to do at the   
   same time."   
      
   'I've never seen a better mom'   
      
   While studying in Louisiana, Mead met Densmore — a U.S. Army   
   veteran from Haughton, La. — and the two began what friends   
   described as a tumultuous and emotionally abusive relationship.   
      
   "I never cared for Adam, and I don't think any of her friends   
   did," Jeknavorian said.   
      
   She said she never witnessed or heard about any physical   
   violence, but said he was "manipulative," and that Mead was not   
   confident about herself around him.   
      
   "She was always miserable with Adam," Jeknavorian said. "He tore   
   her down mentally a lot."   
      
   The two broke up, and Densmore moved away to Colorado to go to   
   chef school, which is when Mead found out she was going to have   
   a baby girl.   
      
   "She was so scared when she was pregnant," Perry said. "She came   
   home and we talked about it, and she decided she was going to   
   move to Colorado. Even if she wasn't going to be with   
   (Densmore), she wanted to be there so her daughter could have a   
   father."   
      
   But even if Mead was scared about having a daughter, Jeknavorian   
   said that the birth of Winter Daisy Mead was one of the best   
   things to happen to her.   
      
   "She was just so proud of that baby," Jeknavorian said. "You   
   could see it in her eyes. It was just so amazing to see that   
   smile on her."   
      
   Jeknavorian said Mead's free spirit carried over to her child-   
   rearing philosophy.   
      
   "Winter would be sitting there in the dirt with a leaf in her   
   mouth, and (Mead) would just be giggling," Jeknavorian said.   
      
   But that didn't mean Mead was not a fiercely protective and   
   doting mother.   
      
   "I'd like to think I am a good mom, but I've never seen a better   
   mom than Ashley," Perry said. "She literally wore that baby."   
      
   And before you think that Perry misused the word 'literally,'   
   Jeknavorian said the same thing.   
      
   "She wore Winter," Jeknavorian said. "She had all these wraps   
   that she used. That baby was always attached to her boob."   
      
   So when news broke that the baby had been found with Densmore   
   but that Mead was not with her, Jeknavorian broke down and cried   
   in her car.   
      
   "I knew, I knew she was gone," Jeknavorian said. "She would   
   never let (Densmore) leave with that baby."   
      
   'She was the happiest'   
      
   Mead got a job as a preschool teacher's aide in Colorado after   
   moving to Boulder. Most recently, Mead had been an intern   
   teacher for the head start division of Boulder County Community   
   Services since October, the agency announced in a news release   
   on Friday evening.   
      
   "Her bubbly personality, her radiant love for her baby girl and   
   her zany clothing choices are a few of the hallmarks we will   
   miss. She was a dreamer and goal setter with lots of love for   
   all," said the release. "We are holding Ashley and her daughter,   
   Winter Daisy, and their entire family in our hearts."   
      
   Jeknavorian also said Mead had recently been seeing another man,   
   since she and Densmore were raising Winter but were not dating.   
      
   "She was really happy with him, and I think she was just getting   
   her confidence back," Jeknavorian said. "I'm really happy that   
   she met somebody who made her feel beautiful."   
      
   But Jeknavorian also wonders if seeing Mead with another man may   
   have made Densmore jealous.   
      
   "Maybe that is what made him snap," she said.   
      
   Perry never met Densmore personally, but said she also talked to   
   Mead about him.   
      
   "It was definitely strange," Perry said. "He seemed like a very   
   hard person for her to communicate with. They weren't good for   
   each other."   
      
   As for Winter, Perry said she has been talking with child   
   protective services and said the baby is with a temporary foster   
   family in Oklahoma.   
      
   "Winter is doing well," Perry said. "She's being taken care of."   
      
   In the meantime, Perry has set up a fund for Winter, who is   
   faced with growing up without a mother and possibly her father.   
   But Perry said she hopes baby Winter grows up with the kind of   
   love that Mead always showered her with, and it is why she is   
   choosing to remember Mead's life and not her death.   
      
   "She wanted every single moment of her child's life to be full   
   of love," Perry said. "Anytime someone got down, Ashley would   
   tell them to shut up and remember how much beautiful stuff there   
   is in the world. She was the happiest. Every time she walked   
   through the room, she would have a huge, beautiful smile that   
   would never quit."   
      
   John Bear contributed to this story.   
      
   Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or   
   twitter.com/mitchellbyars   
      
   Colorado is a left wing pacifist state.  They won't do anything   
   to this poor man.   
      
   http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_30803286/everything-   
   was-an-adventure-friends-remember-free-spirited   
              
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)