A dream is a wish your heart makes. This Disney song from Cinderella sums up the life of Heather Hurd.
Heather was born on March 10, 1981, a special gift for her very young parents. She excelled at everything she attempted. She walked and talked ahead of her time, she was a straight A student in school but through it all Heather always loved a fantasy world full of cartoon animals and people. Naturally this love of fantasy attracted her to everything Disney. She adored the music and movies and her favorite characters were always the mischievous ones. Her favorite was Stitch from Lilo and Stitch and she collected hundreds in her home.
As a young girl, Heather always told her parents that one day she would live and work at the Magic Kingdom in Florida and in 2006 she made her dream come true when she was accepted into the Disney College Program in Orlando.
Every little girl dreams of the day she gets married. She sees the white dress in her mind’s eye and she may even see herself as Cinderella. In October 2007, Heather became engaged to her long time boyfriend right in her favorite place in all the world, the Magic Kingdom.
On January 3, 2008, Heather and her fiancé Patrick were to meet her parents at Walt Disney Worlds wedding planner to begin the planning of her dream wedding. That meeting was scheduled for noon. At 11:30 AM, stopped at a traffic signal less than a mile from home Heather’s car and 8 other vehicles were struck from behind by a tractor trailer traveling at 65 miles per hour. Patrick was severely injured and Heather was killed instantly. The reason the tractor trailer failed to notice the 9 vehicles stopped at the signal was that he was sending and receiving text messages from his company at the time of the crash. Dreams were forever ended for Heather and her family who have since made it their passion to end these tragedies that happen far to often on our nations roadways. It is their hope that one person at a time their fondest wish will come true.