'The Light In A Dark Room': Northport Mourns After Teen Killed

NORTHPORT, AL — It's been a devastating year for the Northside High School community, which is mourning the death of yet another recent graduate.

Andrea Burrage, 19, was one of two people killed in a two-vehicle wreck on Alabama Highway 159 in Gordo early Sunday morning that also injured three others. Andi, as she was known by friends and coworkers, received her diploma from NHS in May and was well on her way to carving out a career as a preschool teacher at Imagination Station Child Development Center in Northport.

"She was the light in a dark room," said Brylin Gray, a longtime friend of Burrage. "She was always laughing about something. I feel like when we met, both of our parents gained a bonus daughter. We were always together, we were inseparable. One thing I will never forget about her is that she was always laughing. I love her dearly and this world will not be the same without her."

Gray and Burrage became friends in the fourth grade and formed an "unbreakable bond" through their high school years.

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"She always had such a bubbly personality," Gray recalled. "I would always have to ask her if she was deaf because she would always talk and laugh so loud. I will never forget the sound of her laugh."

While the outpouring of love from friends and family could be seen in their words, memories and scores of social media posts, Burrage was also a beloved coworker and passionate about her job.

"When she first started, I didn’t know what in the world we had gotten ourselves into," laughed Jackie Ensor, owner and director of Imagination Station. "She was so mouthy and sarcastic and set on being right about everything. After some time, I realized all of that toughness was just covering up what a huge heart she had."

Imagination Station is a Christian preschool that serves children from six weeks old to four years old. The preschool operates as a ministry of Bethel Baptist Church.

"[Burrage] was a teacher in one of our older infant rooms and, man, did she love those babies," Ensor said. "She would love on them and play with them. They would get so excited to see her in the mornings and, a lot of times, wouldn’t go to their parents when they came to pick them up. I always say you can judge someone’s true character by how children react to them, and all of the kids loved her ... even the ones from other classes."

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Coworkers also remembered Burrage and the impact she had on the children she cared for. She would do little things that didn't go unnoticed, one colleague remembered, like regularly having Chick-fil-A delivered for breakfast.

"Andi was like a little ball of energy," said coworker Emily Harris. "She was so sassy and so sarcastic. She was also very loving and very passionate about her babies in her nursery classroom. She took such pride in her class."

Courtney Christian, an administrator at Imagination Station, remembered Burrage's "tough outer shell," but said the more her coworkers got to know her, the more they noticed her "loving, caring, compassionate heart."

"She truly cared for the people around her and she was always there for her friends and family," she said. "She took off work to be there for them when they needed her the most."

Christian also reflected on Burrage's attention to detail, along with the personal touch she brought with children. This approach gained the respect of not only the staff at Imagination Station, but the adoration of the school's children and their parents.

"She also loved her job and it showed in the way she cared for her babies in her room," Christian said. "She knew what her babies liked, what they didn’t, how they liked to go to sleep, and what toys were their favorites. She knew everything about them and loved them in the best way because of it. My child was moving to her class in the fall and I was so excited for him to have her — she loved him so good already. I can’t imagine that class or Imagination Station without her."

Her death also marks the third recent Northside alum to be killed in a vehicle wreck in 2021. In May, Burrage's classmate Josh Lucas, 18, was killed less than a week before graduation as he and two others were returning from National Guard drills in Walker County. Less than a week later, 27-year-old Ryan Perry — a 2012 NHS graduate — died in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 69 North in Northport.

During Burrage's time at Imagination Station, Ensor said they developed a kind of mother-daughter dynamic, which makes coping with the loss of a coworker that much more difficult. She then remembered how Burrage had "big walls up" when they first met, but how she was thankful that a teenager "so young, but so grown up at the same time," let her into her life.

"I always stayed on her about making sure she finished her school work and told her I would ground her if I saw her playing on her phone instead," she said with another laugh. "We always joked that I was going to adopt her since I had turned into her work mama. Imagination Station won’t be the same without her huge smile and her sarcastic wit. I’m going to miss her more than I can even put into words."

Ensor said Imagination Station is working on raising funds for Burrage's family and funeral arrangements. Those interested in donating can reach out to Imagination Station on Facebook or call (205) 534-4199.

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