JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Six months ago, a flood swept through Texas Hill Country. At least 130 people died, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic. Most campers were 8 or 9 years old.
STACY STEVENS: Six months has felt like eternity, and at the same time, I'm frozen on July 4. And the world keeps spinning, but I'm still there, waiting for my daughter to come home. I'm Stacy Stevens, and my daughter is Mary Barrett Stevens.
SUMMERS: To keep their daughters' memories alive, family members created a foundation called Heaven's 27.
COLE NAYLOR: It's our way of carrying our daughters' legacies forward and sharing their light with as many people as possible. I'm Cole Naylor. My daughter is Wynne Naylor.
SUMMERS: The foundation supports causes that each girl cared about.
STEVENS: There are funds that support animals, Christian initiatives, the arts.
SUMMERS: ALL THINGS CONSIDERED's Ava Berger spoke to Stevens and Naylor and asked them to describe in their own words how the foundation carries on their daughters' legacies.
STEVENS: Mary Barrett was our oldest of three. I'm going to cry. She was the kid that, you know, you walk into a room and you look at her and you're just so proud that she's yours (crying). She's just truly pure joy.
NAYLOR: What I would say about Wynne is her imagination is just absolutely limitless. And one of the things I miss most is, hey, Daddy, I have a question. Every night at bedtime, I would finish reading her books, and right about the time I had her door closed and was about to walk downstairs, like, hey, Daddy, I have a question.
STEVENS: There was never no. That was never a word in her vocabulary. You know, do you want to try basketball? Do you want to try golf? It was always yes. And then second, Mary Barrett, every summer would set up a lemonade stand on vacation and raise money for all the dogs and cats.
NAYLOR: Wynne loves her community so much. She loves her teachers. You know, she loves her church, her dance programs. And we just - we want to be able to give back to each one of those organizations that just shaped Wynne.
STEVENS: We are supporting the program that brings youth to the mountains for a week in the summer so that they can experience the outdoors and, you know, the peace of the mountains that Mary loved so much.
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NAYLOR: I mean, this is a pain I wouldn't wish on anyone. We'll continue to support each other to live the way that our girls lived - you know, just take joy in as many small moments and really give you a full life like they lived. I mean, these are girls who were only on this world for eight or nine years, and it is a way of living I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
STEVENS: You know, as a mom, you serve your children daily in different capacities, and to lose that, you feel lost. And these foundations are a way for us to feel like we can still be their mom and serve them and work for them and do things for them and we haven't lost that piece of it.
NAYLOR: They were going to do such big things and make such an impact on the world, and we can't snuff that light out. They're going to continue to impact the world in such a positive way.
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SUMMERS: That was Cole Naylor and Stacy Stevens, remembering their daughters, Wynne Naylor and Mary Barrett Stevens.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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