By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – This past Friday family and friends of Destiny Champagne gathered at Highway 51 Park to celebrate the young Reserve resident’s sixth birthday. Although the bright young girl wasn’t at the pavilion that afternoon to open presents and indulge in cupcakes, she was still very much able to witness the event from above.

At the tender age of four, little Destiny lost her life when she became tangled in a ribbon hanging from a bedpost. The tragic accident occurred just days before her fifth birthday. Friday’s celebration honored the memory of a girl described as “a cherub taken back to heaven.”

“God must have really needed her for something because she was truly an angel here on earth,” said Champagne’s great aunt Verna Cambe, who helped organize the party. “We all sat together talking about what we should do and all of a sudden it came to us to throw a party in her memory. I know she is up there looking down on us and enjoying every minute.”

Cambe got together with Champagne’s mother Melissa to come up with the most fitting tribute to the young girl. The goal was to organize something that brought out the things she held dear.

“Our original plan was to release butterflies, but it was too much,” said Cambe. “Our fall back was a release of balloons. All of them would be her favorite color pink. She loved pink.”

A table under the pavilion displayed a collage of photos featuring Champagne, all containing that trademark smile that so many family members remembered her having. Next to the photos was a stash of butterfly-decorated cupcakes and a poster-sized card with well wishes from those who attended.

“She was amazing,” said Champagne’s cousin Chantelle Simoneaux. “She had this spirit about her that just grabbed at anyone she touched. She was more of a sister than anything.”

Champagne’s father, Tim Tregre, recalled a daughter who was always happy and really friendly.

Anna Ferraro, Champagne’s aunt who was known as “Nanny,” recalled that Destiny would always beg her to go to the mall to buy new clothes to dress up in.

“She called it ‘the market,’ she always asked to go to the market,” said Ferraro. “That girl had some serious style and she loved to dress up.”

Ferraro, who said the memories always bring back lots of emotion, said Destiny was pivotal in helper her recover from two bouts of breast cancer.

“She helped me lick it, she really did,” said Ferraro.

Both Cambe and Ferraro described Champagne as “older than she looked” because she always had a deep level of care for anyone she met.

“She was always concerned for others,” said Ferraro. “If she heard you argue she would say ‘God don’t like ugly.’ She had the mind of a 20-year-old in a 4-year-old’s body.”

Each partygoer was given one balloon with a note that said where it came from and who it was for. After a singing of “Happy Birthday” the group released the balloons and formed a festive picture across a clear blue sky.

The balloons drifted east toward Norco on their way home into Destiny’s arms.