On December 14, 2012, shots rang out inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. News of the shooting spread quickly. Twenty-six people were killed. Twenty were children between six and seven years of age. Six were adult staff members of the school. Disbelief changed to deep mourning as the reality touched our collective soul.

It wasn’t surprising that within a short period of time, a candlelight vigil was planned for the courthouse lawn in Downtown Benton to honor the children, staff, parents and community of a town not much different than ours. As editor of The Saline Courier at the time, I covered the vigil. Camera in hand, I moved around the lawn, doing my best not to attract attention. This is easier said than done for a man of 6′ 6″. I made my way around the periphery of the crowd, seeking images that captured the somber mood of the moment.

As I came around the far side, I saw a little girl sitting on the grass holding a candle. The soft glow of the flame highlighted the innocence of not only the little girl, but also that of children everywhere. Specifically, in Newtown, Connecticut.

I leaned over, put the edge of the camera against the ground, angled the lens upward, hit the shutter and moved on to other images. It wasn’t until I went back to the office that I saw the photo.

I didn’t ask for names at the vigil. The images would tell the story better than any words. As years passed, people would comment or ask about “the girl with the candle.” Recently, I asked if anyone knew how I could find her. I met with her and her mother to find out what life has been like nearly twelve years later.

Her name is Zoey Hawkins and she isn’t a little girl of four anymore. She’s a young lady of seventeen entering her senior year at Benton High School. And she is just as charming now as she was back then. A cheerleader for four years, she decided to take her senior year off and enjoy what most people consider as their best year of high school.

Her plans for the future include an interest in becoming a dental assistant or hair stylist. “I know I’m going to college somewhere. I haven’t decided yet. I’m still deciding.”, Zoey said. She has visited the University of Central Arkansas and has a trip set to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

I asked her if she remembered the vigil. She does not, which is understandable for someone so young at the time. “My dad told me about that but I didn’t know why we were there.”

Her mother, Jill Hawkins, remembers the events clearly.

“It was so tragic.”, she said. Of the vigil in particular she recalls, “It was heartbreaking. That picture, the innocence of those kids that were killed. That’s what I think of.” She remembers the mood was reverent at the vigil and a sense of shock still lingered. “I can’t imagine what the parents went through. I can’t.”

Jill talked about her reasons for taking Zoey to the vigil. “I wanted to show my kids that we need to pay tribute to, we need to be supportive of those families because we never know if it could happen to us. I just felt we needed to go there. That we needed to pray for them in numbers. The more around the better.”

She reflected on what a school shooting meant back in 2012 compared to twelve years later. “(Sandy Hook) was one of the first big school shootings in the country. They didn’t have plans for what to do if a shooting happened. Now the schools have training and kids know where to go and what to do. We (Jill and Zoey) talked about what to do if there is one where to go and what to do to be safe.” Jill added, “It’s sad that we have to think about this kind of stuff these days. It really is.”

Jill and Zoey Hawkins pose with “The Little Girl with The Candle” photo.

Jill and Zoey say they have a few copies of the newspaper that carried her photo on the front page. I asked her what she sees when she looks at the photo. With a sly smile, she said, “I was just a sweet, innocent little girl.” Jill laughs and responds, “Before she got all mouthy and bossy.” The two of them laugh and smile.

I came away from the interview feeling a sense of that same innocence the picture conveys. Life had not jaded Zoey or Jill.

And isn’t that a lesson we could all learn.