Remembered as a rainbow of a girl, Faye Swetlik memorialized at Springdale playground
A unicorn shaped balloon floated above a glossy pink bench that sat on a bed of white rocks in Felton C. Benton Park in Springdale, a small community in Lexington County.
Painted on the bench was the name “Faye Marie Swetlik.”
On Tuesday evening, about 200 people gathered for a ceremony dedicating a plot of the park to Faye. Community members and Faye’s family came together at the event.
“We ask that we always remember her smile, laughter and brightness that she brought to light,” Springdale Police Chief Andrew Richbourg said in a prayer. “We ask that we live our lives with the same brightness and positivity as Faye.”
The vividly colored bench and a newly planted Crape Myrtle tree were meant to shine light on a shadow that’s been cast over the town just as Faye shined in her life, speakers at the ceremony said.
In February, a man abducted and killed 6-year-old Faye as she played outside in a neighborhood in Cayce, which borders Springdale, the Cayce Department of Public Safety said. The killing cast a shadow over both towns and covered Faye’s family members in grief.
The flashing lights of fire trucks, police cars and tow trucks swept over the gathering of people, many dressed in purple and pink shirts — Faye’s favorite colors. Parents pushed children on swings and some played tag before the solemn memorial.
Sandy Harrelson, a former school resource officer at Springdale Elementary where Faye went to school, memorialized the young girl. Faye embodied the beauty, whimsy and uniqueness of a rainbow, she said.
Faye was a fierce little girl in all the right ways, she said.
In the halls of her school, Faye was always skipping instead of walking. Her energy seemed endless. Her imagination knew no bounds and she wasn’t scared to share what popped into her mind. She loved colorful dresses and bright shoes and everyone around her knew it, Harrelson said.
She remembered a time she called Faye into a school office to give her a new dress.
Faye started jumping in joy and wouldn’t stop.
“Her grandmother often said, ‘Always sparkle,’ ” Harrelson said. “Faye did just that.”
Mayor Michael Bishop and Springdale town council passed a resolution honoring Faye, Tuesday.
“Faye had a radiant and infectious smile that shined brightly upon each person who knew her,” Bishop read from the resolution to the crowd. “To know her was to love her.”
Bishop presented Faye’s mother and father with copies of the resolution.
The song “Dancing in the Sky” sung by Denise Ward capped off the ceremony. Many in the crowd cried when hearing the lyrics “Here on earth everything’s different. There’s an emptiness. Oh, I hope you’re dancing in the sky. And I hope you’re singing in the angel’s choir.”
The bed of white rocks beneath Faye’s bench is a canvas, Richbourg explained near the end of the ceremony. People can take rocks, paint them and bring them back or place new bright rocks on the foundation. As Faye added color to people’s lives, the rocks will add color to the park.
When the dedication came to a close, a young boy crouched down by the bench, took a white rock and ran back to his mother, yelling that he wanted to paint it green.