298 On May 31, 2022, junior Mark Andrew Emberson died following a car accident in Searcy, Arkansas. Emberson was born on June 27, 2000 to Mark and Monica Emberson in Searcy. He attended Liberty Christian School and Harding Academy where he graduated from in 2019. Emberson was a nursing major and worked both as a Clinical Support Associate at Unity Health and in the Physical Resources Department on campus. He was involved in choir and Spring Sing ensemble and was active in men’s social club Sub T-16, which he had joined the previous fall. Emberson was described by those close to him as kind, service-oriented and a faithful follower of Jesus. “Andrew never knew a stranger,” senior Easton Eads, Emberson’s close friend and former roommate, said. “If you wanted to talk to him, unless he had to get to class, he would take the time to talk. You would feel genuinely heard and valued.” Senior Carissa Watson, Emberson’s friend from high school and college, echoed these same sentiments. “Andrew was always so friendly and lighthearted to everyone that he met, so you could’ve expected a smiling face, and also someone who would crack some jokes whenever given the opportunity,” Watson said. “If you met Andrew, you met a friend.” Emberson died shortly after the end of the spring semester, and it was not until fall 2022 that students were able to gather and collectively mourn his death. “Since the spring semester had already ended, we were not able to come together collectively to remember Andrew and cry together until the fall semester began,” Karen Garner, assistant professor of nursing, said. “The loss of Andrew, just a few months after the tragic loss of another one of our nursing students, felt like a wound that salt had just been poured into.” Emberson’s was the second death to have impacted his small nursing cohort. Just two months earlier junior Elizabeth Soisouvanh died following a car accident over spring break. “We were still mourning the loss of Elizabeth Soisouvanh, which made Andrew’s untimely passing very difficult for the students and the faculty,” Garner said. Friends and family gathered together on June 3, 2022 at Searcy First Assembly of God to honor Emberson and celebrate his life. “Andrew was as close as a brother to me,” Eads said. “He always had my back. He pushed me to do better every day. Now that he is gone, he is someone that deserves to be remembered as a good friend, a good brother and son, and most importantly a child of God. Because of that, I know that I will get to see him again.” Written by: Julianne Baker “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 IN MEMORY OF Andrew Emberson
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