Yesterday was tough for many in Lake Highlands. It was the 20th anniversary of the death Katie Findley and Megan Jones.

Katie and Megan were popular recent Lake Highlands High School grads on February 17, 1996, former cheerleaders (before Katie became the Wildcat mascot) and virtually inseparable since their LHJH days. They were back from college for a birthday party when Katie pulled in front of a police car speeding down Skillman at Fair Oaks, and the two were killed.

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Kyle Jenkins, also from the class of 1995, penned a blog post recalling that day and remembering “How Katie and Megan changed our lives forever.”

“I have been wanting to write that post for years,” Jenkins told me, “because for 20 years it’s been on my heart. I want people to see how God works in it all.”

“Emotions run raw during this time because you know the anniversary of Katie and Megan is coming. It’s always on your mind, but especially near the date,” Jenkins wrote in his blog. “Till this day 20 years later when I get to that intersection, I always think to myself, this is where Katie and Megan made their final turn before the accident.”

Jenkins, who founded a Christian ministry called Loving All Peoples in 2003, credits Katie and Megan for encouraging him in his faith during high school – a time, he admits, of doubt. Their death, he says, changed his life. He, his wife, Melissa Johnson Jenkins, also an LHHS grad, and about 30 others met with the moms of Katie and Megan last night. “It was a mini-reunion,” says Jenkins.

“My life change was such a miracle to me and God is just so real to me,” says Jenkins, explaining why he founded Loving All Peoples. “Right from the beginning I knew I wanted to reach others.

“Most people we work with will never step into a church, but they are hungry for God and you just need to go to them,” says Jenkins. His group has worked with individuals and organizations as diverse as drug addicts and prostitutes, people living with AIDS and Vickery Meadows’ apartment community.

If you’re interested in Jenkin’s work, you can learn more here. If you’d like to make a donation to the Lake Highlands Exchange Club’s scholarship in Katie’s honor, you can learn more here.

Says Jenkins, “It was such a special and emotional little reunion last night.”

Katie Findley and Megan Jones

Katie Findley and Megan Jones

 

Dallas Morning News photo of Katie's funeral.

Dallas Morning News photo of Katie’s funeral.

Mini-Reunion with moms of Katie and Megan, Feb. 16, 2016.

Mini-Reunion with moms of Katie and Megan, Feb. 17, 2016.