Rachael Lutz was a friend to anyone she met, and if she saw you and wanted to meet you, she would take it upon herself to make your acquaintance.

Her sweet hello, her contagious smile, and her sincere hugs will be missed by many in the small community.

Rachael, 14, daughter of Alice and Bob Lutz and big sister to Renee Lutz, died unexpectedly Thursday, Aug. 21.

People who knew her have commented about her loyalty and the sincere way in which she would ask so many questions to learn who you were, what you were doing, and any-thing else she could ask.

"When we moved to Tega Cay, we did not know anyone, and I met so many people because of Rachel," her mother said. "She brought so many people into our lives."

Rachael was born 10 weeks early and stayed in the neonatal unit for 98 days in a Morristown, N.J., hospital. Rachael was born with some challenges for her life. She and her family overcame many of those with love and determination for Rachael to have a good quality of life. And that she did.

The family moved to Tega Cay and while Rachael was in kindergarten her mother met Cheri Oxenfeld, who told her about a book by Glenn Doman, founder of The Institutes in Philadelphia and a pioneer in brain-injured children. In the 1960s, he developed "psychomotor patterning" as a treatment model for children with brain injuries.

Alice eagerly read Doman's book and researched untraditional options. She did all she could to learn about the patterning therapy and became aware that a healthy diet with little sugar or fat - eliminating most processed food - was essential for helping her daughter's growth and development.

At the time, Alice called Shirley "Sam" McDonald (now deceased), who was the editor of the Tega Cay Tradewinds, a publication for residents of Tega Cay, to ask for help. "Sam published a request for volunteers and soon "we had 20 volunteers and set up patterning sessions six days a week in our home for Rachael," Lutz recalled.

By the end of that first summer, "Rachael got to a point that she could run three miles with her dad. The four of us ran in the Lake Wylie Splash Dash and Rachael participated in The Girls on the Run and enjoyed swimming at the YMCA."

Among those who befriended the family, "Jeanne Weaver was one of the original volunteers and continued for the past seven years," Lutz said. According to Weaver, "Rachael was a very sweet, loving young girl when I met her, sometimes sweet and occasionally a little sassy. She was like a rosebud opening."

Rachael loved roses and flowers in general. She enjoyed rainbows and was curious about people, life, and anything that came across her path. She never had a problem asking what shade of lipstick or nail polish someone was wearing. In her frankness, she once asked a lady if she realized that her lipstick and nail polish did not exactly match and then Rachael proceeded to explain to the lady that she really needed to make sure her lips and nails matched when she went out.

She enjoyed sharing the contents of her purse, which was mostly makeup. Her directness came through at this summer's Fourth of July parade in Tega Cay, when she was invited to ride on a simple float to promote croquet.

"She came appropriately dressed in white and took one look at the float and said, 'This is not going to win anything in the parade,'" shared Betty Anderson, another patterning volunteer.

"The comfort that I have in Rachael's death is that there is another angel in heaven," said longtime resident Ralph Hughes. "When I volunteered with her patterning, sometimes Rachael would be tense, so I promised her sugar-free candy and to share photos of the deer in Tega Cay if she would relax so her patterning therapy would be a good session. That seemed to work with her."

From that time on Rachael became intrigued with the deer and assigned a name to each one. Hughes took her out to see the deer and Rachael and her mother made finger puppets of each deer.

Rachel was home schooled, but that did not stop her from volunteering at Gold Hill Elementary. She took her volunteer work seriously, especially passing out candy canes as a Christmas helper at the school. She also enjoyed participating at her church and cheering for her sister in gymnastics.

Rachael was all over Tega Cay and Fort Mill and you never knew when you would hear that her friendly greeting, see her smile and get a hug.

Anyone who would like to send a message to the family can visit www.rachellutz.com.