Lakewood – Emily Keyes’ mother and two aunts found their own way Sunday to remember the 16-year-old: They permanently etched her memory into their skin with matching tattoos.
“Internal pain, external pain,” Emily’s mother, Ellen Keyes, said with a shrug when asked if the tattoo hurt.
Ellen Keyes designed the bright-pink lightning-bolt initials as a logo for her daughter’s website more than a year ago. The tattoos have the lightning-bolt initials and the date, 9-27-06, when Emily was killed by a gunman at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey.
The lightning bolt symbolizes Emily’s love of fast things and fast cars, Ellen Keyes said Sunday. “I designed a logo that I thought represented her.”
Emily’s aunt Anne Stoddard-Wheelock of Madison, Wis., said, “Emily liked it.” She also got the tattoo.
Zeke Pusateri, the owner of Celebrity Tattoo and Piercing in Lakewood, didn’t know Emily, but from the many people getting tattoos in her memory, he’s sure she was loved.
“From the love she’s getting,” he said Sunday, “she must have been a wonderful person.”
Pusateri said people came to his shop in droves after the Columbine shooting in 1999 and the terrorist attacks of 2001 to remember those who died. It’s been similar for Emily, with friends and classmates remembering her with tattoos of her picture and bright butterflies.
“It’s in their souls or in their hearts to get these tattoos,” he said.
Celebrity Tattoo and Piercing is remembering Emily too. The shop has placed her picture surrounded by candles in the front entrance and is donating a portion of its profits to a fund in Emily’s memory.
Pusateri said, “The love has been thick.”
Staff writer Karissa Marcum can be reached at 303-954-1858 or kmarcum@denverpost.com.
