Close friends were popular, well-liked

By GINA SMITH - gnsmith@thestate.com

Shannon McDaniel was intimidated and scared when she transferred in her junior year to a new school, J.L. Mann Academy in Greenville County.

As it turned out, she didn’t need to worry.

During that first day in 2004, classmate Emily Yelton, a pretty blonde, swiveled around in her chair and introduced herself with a big smile.

Immediately, she took McDaniel under her wing, inviting her to eat in the cafeteria and introducing her to a clan of close friends.

Soon the girls were eating bagels with cream cheese and Skittles for lunch every day, sharing laughs with others in Yelton’s crowd of popular friends.

Today, McDaniel is struggling to accept that Emily Yelton, along with two others from the group of 20 or so students who befriended her at J.L. Mann, died Sunday in a fire at a North Carolina beach house.

Of the seven who died, three graduated from J.L. Mann Academy in 2006.

There was Justin Anderson, Emily’s neighbor and friend since the two were 3 or 4 years old. He was the class clown and football player whose father, a doctor, sometimes tended to injured team members. Anderson was raised with three brothers who all loved the Gamecocks, recalls Shelley Reid, who graduated last year from J.L. Mann.

There was Travis Cale, Emily’s boyfriend and Anderson’s best friend, a curly-haired baseball player who loved to fish in Round Pond. He could hold his own at dodge ball and family Wiffle ball games, too.

Cale, forever in a ratty baseball cap or some other hat, heckled cousin Sydney Waller during those games, in which he put his base-stealing skills to work.

“When you first meet him, he’s a bit shy,” said Waller, 22. “As you get to know him, his funny side comes out.”

And then there was Emily Yelton who had a twin sister, Meredith. The sisters were cheerleaders for the J.L. Mann Patriots. They looked so similar, even close friends couldn’t always tell them apart.

Tripp Wiley, another J.L. Mann graduate who was at the N.C. beach house, survived.

They all had a great sense of humor, especially Emily, said her father, Jeff Yelton.

“She was so fun, full of life, the clown,” Yelton said as he prepared to attend a vigil for his daughter Wednesday evening. “Happy all of the time.”

The group wasn’t your average clique of high school kids, said former classmates.

“They were THE clique at J.L. Mann,” said Margaret Forrest, 19, who graduated in 2006.

Forrest wasn’t part of the popular crowd, but she said, “everyone knew them or knew of them.”

“They weren’t stuck up. They were friendly to everyone and well-liked.”

While they were good students, they knew how to have fun, too, McDaniel said.

On the weekends, there was the occasional party, as well as tailgating at USC football games and mock fights between members of the crowd who rooted for USC versus the Clemson fans, including Emily Yelton.

“I’m not sure if God can handle them,” Reid said with a chuckle. “They’re not the wildest bunch in the world, but they sure know how to have a good time.”

Some weekends, McDaniel and Emily Yelton would blast Garth Brooks’ “Friends In Low Places” and other classic country tunes through the car speakers and sing along at the tops of their voices.

This year, McDaniel left for cosmetology school in California, while Emily Yelton headed to Clemson for her sophomore year.

Not long afterward, McDaniel got a letter in the mail from her friend, along with a CD of those fun country songs.

“(The CD) was a way to keep our memories alive. That was the sort of thing that was important to Emily,” McDaniel said.

“I took it out ... and thought about listening to it. But I don’t feel like I can stand to do that right now.”

Staff writer Clif LeBlanc contributed to this report. Reach Smith at (803) 771-8462.