Clawson remembers ‘kind,’ ‘loving,’ ‘role model,’ MSU student Alexandria Verner

CLAWSON — Alexandria Verner was a loving daughter, a dedicated student, a competitive athlete and, from everyone who met her, a caring friend.

She now can be an angel to them all.

Verner, 20, was one of three people killed in the mass shooting at Michigan State University on Feb. 13, along with Arielle Anderson, of Harper Woods, and Brian Fraser, of Grosse Pointe Park. A junior at the college, Verner was studying biology.

Before becoming a Spartan, Verner was a native of the city of Clawson, where she grew up with her parents, Ted and Nancy, her sister, Charlotte, and brother TJ. Alexandria Verner graduated from Clawson High School in 2020.

The school district honored and remembered Verner with candlelight vigils over the course of two nights, Feb. 14-15, at the high school football field at Clawson City Park.

Billy Shellenbarger, the superintendent of Clawson Public Schools, had gotten to know Verner and her family during the last 15 years. He first met them while he was running a youth basketball program in the city. From then on he remained close with the family. He also credits Ted Verner for reaching out to him about becoming the principal at Clawson High School in 2018.

Shellenbarger remembered Verner as a sweet kid who was strong and character-driven.

“She was absolutely, all cliches aside, every single thing that you would want if you were to raise a daughter,” he said. “If you could write a script, if you could write a chapter on it, that was Al Verner, and you know to see that was pretty amazing. And to watch her follow her dreams to Michigan State was pretty incredible, with the support of her family along the way. Just an amazing girl who doesn’t come around that often. I mean, she’s just one of the rare ones.”

Because he’s been so focused on helping the district and community through the mourning process, Shellenbarger said he hasn’t been able to process Verner’s death, though it was something he said he was going to try to do after the funeral, which took place this past weekend.

“I’m gonna have a second to take a breath and really think about it,” he said. “A lot of my focus and energy will go to that family, the Verners, who have been so tremendous to me and my family and just continue to pray for them.”

Verner also was an excellent athlete, participating in basketball, volleyball and softball during her time as a Clawson Trojan. She was memorialized during a speech to the community at the Feb. 15 vigil by Kelly Horne, the high school’s assistant principal and athletic director and Verner’s former basketball coach.

“Al embodies everything that was great about humanity,” she said. “She was kind, giving, humble, selfless, so positive and smiled hard every time you saw her. Al was a person we surrounded ourselves with when we wanted to feel good, because that’s what she did. She lifted us up.”

Horne said Verner shined a light on everyone, and they were honoring what made her a tremendous asset to the world.

“We honor the path she walked in strength, passion and compassion,” she said. “As we celebrate her, let us be reminded that we don’t honor the narrative this week, but we honor the narrative of 20 years of beautiful, amazing life. And we do that by embodying what she did. We do that by exuding kindness like she did. We do that by looking out for those around us like she did. We do that by being a positive role model, an influence on others like she was, and we do that by making an impact like she did. I challenge you to do that, as I will be challenging myself in her honor.”

Thousands of people attended both vigils remembering Verner. The Feb. 15 vigil included a 24-second moment of silence — as it was Verner’s number in high school — and a listening of her favorite song, “As the World Caves In,” by Matt Maltese.

One of those in attendance was Anne Pancost, whose sons and daughter had gotten to know Verner during her time in the district.

“She’s just the epitome of a caring person,” she said. “My sons have special needs and she never treated them any different. And they went places, they were part of this, like a social group, where they would go bowling and go for ice cream and … she was just the most kindest person. … And then my daughter, she played softball with her and she said she was the best teammate ever.”

Pancost said Verner’s treatment of her sons meant a lot to her.

“She always had a smile on her face and she never treated anybody different, even if you were different,” she said. “She never treated you like you were different. She was just a sweetheart.”

Scott Sarvello, the retired Clawson police chief, has known the family for around 19 years and knew Verner when she was a little girl playing in a children’s basketball league.

“She always did the right thing. Played hard, great person, great sportsmanship, but if you played against her, you better be competitive,” he said. “(They’re) just a great Clawson family. They raised three tremendous children who were very, very much assets to this community and she grew up into just a beautiful young lady, treated everybody with kindness and she had a big heart. She cared for everybody and everything.”

As the community moves forward, Sarvello said what will continue is its support of the Verner family.

“The outpouring of support this community will give this family will not stop,” he said. “Whether it’d be gift cards, stopping by the family to check on them, this family deserves the love they’re getting and this community will keep on that and we’ll continuously support them. They deserve it.”