In eighth grade, Demri ran for student body president. She won by a landslide – the teachers stopped counting the ballots after she was leading her closest competitor by more than three hundred votes. After a few months, she was removed from the position by the faculty because she had fallen behind on her schoolwork. [1]
Mona: “My favorite memory of Demri would be sitting next to her in class in High School. The funny things she’d say... Then here came that great big smile of hers, her eyes would light up and she’d laugh. It was contagious for sure. I loved her light and energy. Such a sweetheart.” [4]
1983 Demri in 8th grade in Post Middle School in Arlington
In May of 1983, Demri was one of twelve students to represent Arlington at Western Washington Cultural Fair. She was mentioned as one of the participants in The Arlington Times newspaper.
“On Thursday afternoon at the Seattle Center will be held the first ever Western Washington Cultural Fair, and Arlington will be represented in more ways than one. Twelve students, the best from Arlington annual Cultural Fair held last fall, will represent this community at the state event.” [2]
The May 4, 1983 issue of "The Arlington Times" newspaper naming Demri Murphy as one of the best students in the Fair.
Demri won a state prize for a project about alcohol and drugs that she had put together for a cultural fair at the middle school.
For source material, she approached her mother, who had been a practicing counselor working in the addiction field since 1976. Demri borrowed a display case from Austin’s office, which had fake samples of different types of drugs and a film. In retrospect, Austin said, “If anybody had ever told me that my daughter would become a heroin addict, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Hubbard-Mills remembers that exhibit, saying Demri had put it together for the cultural fair at the middle school. It was so well received that it was eventually shown at the high school. “This is when Demri was happy, would hang out for lunch. This is when she thought people doing drugs would die.” She and other friends from Arlington say Demri had tried marijuana and mushrooms by the time she was in high school. [1]
Demri’s interests and ambitions at the time were in the arts. “I know that she wanted to be in acting and I know that she wanted to be an actress and be in movies”, Pfeiffer-Simmons said. “She had to be in the limelight.” Lyle Forde, Demri’s high school choir teacher, said, “She really did love music and the performing arts. She definitely had the bent toward the performing arts and was very social. Some students, they don’t really go up and talk to teachers. They kind of hang with their friends. She was social with other students and their teachers. She was a competent singer, but I think she also was a dancer.” [1]
Demri tried out for soccer but was too small for her age, she did plays (played Tin Man), and was in a choir.
Melissa Bumgarner: “Demri was an absolute angel and not one mean bone in her body. She always was smiling and never had anything bad to say about anyone ever. Heart of gold. She was a gift, a friend and a true sister. I miss our days in her garage in Arlington that she turned into her own little stage with boxes and boxes of clothes props and of course that camera she never let down. We were always roleplaying. We would do Saturday Night Live skits. We were the same size and we both had the same cute little butt in our 501 Levi’s jeans.” [2]
Moya Grubbs: “Thanks for the great memories, fun bus rides home from school and countless hours of hanging in your room/garage being teenagers with dreams! We lived close to each other and went to high school together. We spent a lot of time together after school. She was a vibrant soul. Quirky and funny. We even had a fight once at school and I slapped her in the face in front of a bunch of our classmates. We remained friends tho. We were crazy girls full of life, love and hormones.” [2]
Karie Pfeiffer-Simmons: “l was one of Demri Murphy’s best friends until she dropped out of high school her junior year. We went to Arlington High School. She was very tiny. Petite, not over 5 ft. Dark hair, very fair skin. Her eyes were a really cool blueish color and would change colors when she cried. She wore very light make-up all through school. She was sexually active early in age and would give us girls lessons on ‘how to’. She loved to be center stage, could make herself cry instantly, just as an act. We would sing songs and put on shows pretending we were on stage, and dress up a lot. There is a song I remember always singing. It was ‘Leather and Lace.’ I would sing the girl role and she would sing the guy. She was funny. Loved to make things up and freak our teachers out to distract them, class clown! We were both latchkey kids. Our parents always worked late. She lived with her mom and brother across the street from Arlington High School. We would go over there and skip classes. Once she took her mom’s cooking basil I remember trying to smoke it in 7th grade, she was in 8th, it was funny! Everything she did was with a smile and light-hearted. We would make up little phrases and sayings that no one else knew what it ment. She was always about teasing and the shock factor.” [2]
Rhonda Lundquist: “I had the pleasure of meeting Demri when she was in high school, we became instant friends. I was very sad when she moved to Seattle to pursue a modeling career, but she was the most beautiful girl ever and the world deserved to see such beauty! She had such a majestic soul.” [2]
*All the information has been collected from the "Memories of Demri" document shared on google drive*
Sources cited:
[1] Alice in Chains: The Untold Story by David de Sola
[2] Instagram: memoriesofdemri (no longer exists)
[4] Instagram: spiritofparrott
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