Remembering Ashley Block

Anthropology graduate student Ashley Block, the victim of a tragic accident earlier this week, was a conservationist, athlete and one of our best:

Thursday morning, more than 200 people filled the church’s Common Room at Emmanuel, where Block became a treasured member of the church community as soon as she arrived in Athens as a University of Georgia graduate student two years ago.

She was a Eucharistic minister for the church, licensed by a bishop to administer the consecrated elements of the Eucharist, and pitched in right away to help with church volunteer activities.

“Anybody who served with her knew she just hit the road going,” said one church member who’d worked with her as a Eucharistic minister and volunteering..

Others in the church Thursday morning were classmates and friends from UGA, or people who knew her as an undergraduate student at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.

As a graduate student, Block was studying integrative conservation and anthropology and showed great promise to conservationists she worked with at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and the state Department of Natural Resource.

A bright, positive force for good on our campus and in our community, Block's spirit and energy touched the lives of many. Condolences to her family and to our many colleagues and students who were part of her wide and vibrant circle. The pain of such a loss can only be eclipsed by the love at the center of this wonderful young woman's life. May that love continue to spread and provide comfort.

Image of Ashley Block via icon.uga.edu