From: "Daily Liberal" 
Subject: Pot smokers aren't violent. 'Everything was an adventure': Friends
 remember free spirited, devoted Boulder mother Ashley Mead
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Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2017 05:46:30 +0100 (CET)
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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
    
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