Hanna M. Crafton, an outdoorswoman, writer and Celtic musician, died March 12 after being injured in an automobile accident near Laurel. The former longtime Reisterstown resident, who recently moved to Severna Park, was 20.
The auto in which Ms. Crafton was a passenger was traveling near Laurel when it drifted off Route 198 and struck a tree. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ms. Crafton was born in Baltimore and raised in Reisterstown. During her seven years at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, she made a lasting impression on teachers and students.
"She was a young woman with incredible promise and potential, and all of us here at Notre Dame Prep are mourning her loss," said Sister M. McCarron, head of school.
Ginna Alderman, the school's guidance counselor, recalled Ms. Crafton as something of an introvert. "Hanna was exceedingly kind and creative in so many areas, and really excelled in writing, music and the visual arts," she recalled.
Danielle R. Jablonski, an English teacher at the school, taught Ms. Crafton her freshman, junior and senior year. "She was very, very bright and was in my creative writing class her senior year. She was an absolutely fabulous writer and very imaginative. She had a gift at using words to create pictures and images, and always used them to their greatest potential in her work," she said.
Ms. Crafton was also a staff writer for Esprit, the school's literary magazine.
During her senior year, a requirement of her architecture class was creating a three-dimensional design and building a model.
"Most of the girls designed and built houses, but not Hanna. She designed and built an outdoor patio with a pergola," said Anne J. Walker, who taught architecture and was also her homeroom teacher. "Working in an open space spoke to her interest in the outdoors."
Joan G. Carlson, who teaches religion and is the school's campus minister, most admired Ms. Crafton's challenging mind and refusal to accept convenient answers to questions.
"I loved Hanna, who was one of these people who had questions about everything. She was very introspective and looked deeply at things," Mrs. Carlson said. "And through her questions, she was challenging us to be better people and thinkers."
Mrs. Carlson added: "She was always very willing to share her ideas and loved diversity. She loved being different, and that was part of her charm."
