8 year old gets mother’s headstone donated thanks to community

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (WHNT) — Emouree Johnson of Scottsboro, is 8-year-old and she began selling lemonade earlier this year to help buy her late mother a headstone.

The North Alabama community and beyond rallied behind Johnson to help make honoring her mother a reality. It was an idea that dawned upon her after her mother Karli’s untimely death earlier this year at just 29.

She started making her signature drinks when she realized other gravesites had special headstones, but her mother had just a small medal plate making her emotional journey through grief even more difficult.

“There was a big difference between that little medal one and this one,” Johnson said.

Emouree says her mom was her everything. The mother-daughter duo were inseparable and it rocked the third grader’s world in ways unimaginable.

“I think every mother and daughter will have a bond hopefully. I just think that she was one of the most important people in the world to me,” Johnson told News 19.

Karli’s mother Jennifer Bordner, who’s now raising her granddaughter Emouree says she witnessed the world wrap its arms around her family in ways she didn’t know was possible.

Bordner, expressing how grateful they are says the extra money in donations will cover Emouree’s future needs.

“There is still good people in the world and I couldn’t thank them enough because it touched me so deeply and her,” Bordner said. “To have this beautiful headstone it doesn’t bring my daughter back, nothing will bring my daughter back, but it does help with the healing process because I’m not alone. I have my community and my granddaughter.”

Emouree has plans for another lemonade and hot cocoa stand before the year is over. This time, it’ll be to raise money for less fortunate children in need for the holidays.

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