Loved ones mourn Anderson student who died unexpectedly
Friends remember Skylar Due as someone who inspired others through her openness.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The Anderson community is mourning the loss of a student believed to have died in her sleep.
Skylar Due’s friends and family remember her for her courage, her laughter and her strength.
“She was really just easily one of my favorite people to be around, and she was always just unapologetically herself,” said friend Melina Armentrout.
Due died in her sleep Friday night at 18 years old. Her mother says they still don’t know why it happened.
“We don’t really know if there are more answers to get, and that’s really hard to accept,” Armentrout said.
Due was preparing to graduate early this year.
“Always talked about how in the future she would open up her own cosmetology place,” Armentrout said. “She loved anything hair and makeup, anything like that.”
Family and friends say Due, who was transgender, gave others, through her openness, the strength to be themselves.
“She really is an example and a hero in the LGBTQ+ community, and she’s someone to look up to in the way that she persevered through everything she’s been through, and I just want people to recognize her as that,” Armentrout said.
Due’s brother, Jake Due shared a statement that reads:
“Skylar was the strongest person I knew. Her strength and courage to be herself, nothing but herself, was unbreakable! Even when she felt knocked down, she would always get right back up to be 100% who she was. Her creativity in art went from canvas to faces, as well as spending a summer with Art Works of Cincinnati. She was able to transform everything she touched into a beautiful piece of art. Skylar had a way of comforting in an indescribable way, to having everyone in the room belly laughing, with tears of laughter running down our faces. She was the best sister, daughter, aunt and friend. We will continue to love and now miss her deeply. The hope Skylar gave us, we are now trying turn into our strength.”
For Armentrout, the shocking nature of Due’s death makes the heartbreak even more difficult.
“It was just sudden and completely unexpected,” she said. “It’s really important for everyone to stick together right now.”
There is a GoFundMe page to help Due’s family with funeral expenses.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.
Copyright 2021 WXIX. All rights reserved.
