Beth Holloway speaks out on safety, faith and hope

For some teens in the Shoals, the bags are packed, the plane tickets booked and the hotels are confirmed for a spring break destination to what could be anywhere.

Some will head to the strip along Panama City Beach, Fla., dropping cash in bars, clubs and the occasional souvenir shop. Others may be headed for more exotic locales - the Bahamas, perhaps, or even Mexico.

For each of those students, there is a parent who assumes his or her child will be safe, that friends or adult chaperones will take good care them and see them safely home.

Beth Holloway urged those who attended Saturday night's event at the Muscle Shoals High School auditorium not to make those assumptions.

"I want young adults and parents to open a dialogue about safety and what you need to know about personal safety on these trips," she said. "I want them to remember Natalee."

Alabamians, along with the rest of the nation and the world, were riveted by the news of Natalee Holloway's disappearance in Aruba on a spring break trip to the country in May 2005. Many could only guess at the grief of a mother losing her daughter so suddenly.

In the months after, and as Beth Holloway began to realize that Natalee may never come back to their Birmingham-area home, Holloway was thrust into the spotlight by others who wanted to hear her story and how her faith had grown in the aftermath.

Holloway responded by spending a year traveling from city to city and state to state sharing the message of an organization she founded in the wake of Natalee's disappearance, the International Safe Travels Foundation, which was designed to inform and educate the public about how to stay safe when traveling internationally.

She also has released a memoir about losing her daughter, "Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith," which was published in October.

"To me, writing the book was not the cathartic experience; the travel to 22 different states was," Holloway said. "I was delivering this message of faith to high school students and college students. After a year of that, I realized I wanted to reach a lot more, and that's when I decided to write the book."

Earlier Saturday, Holloway signed copies of "Loving Natalee," greeting fans with hugs and long conversations about shared tragedies.

Jean May, who helped organize the event for the Muscle Shoals High School Band Boosters, said reading the book gave her the idea of asking Holloway to come for the fund-raising event.

"It's the first time we've done something like this, and I knew I wanted whoever we brought to be inspirational," May said. "I read the book and saw how faith had carried her through."

As the mother of a high school senior, May also understands Holloway's grief on a different level.

"I have a daughter just waiting to get out of town for a trip to the beach, but I want her to understand why it's so important to be safe," May said.

Had Natalee come home, she would probably be wrapping up her junior year in college, making plans of her own that may have involved a career or even a family.

It is that aspect of Natalee's life that is so compelling for Kara Beth Lawrence, a senior at the University of North Alabama.

"I remember where I was when I heard about 9/11, and I remember, too, when I heard about Natalee," she said. "I identified with her because I was from a small town, and I had just graduated from high school."

Lawrence, along with Tim Lyons, hope to produce a documentary for their senior seminar about Natalee's story, and were on hand at the book signing to ask Beth Holloway some questions.

"I've always felt so close to this story," Lawrence said. "I'd love if we could help raise awareness."

Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@timesdaily.com.