
DATE: Thursday, September 11, 1997          TAG: 9709110437

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   86 lines

TODDLER'S DEATH BRINGS OUTPOURING OF SYMPATHY FRIENDS, STRANGERS MOURN; WAL-MART EMPLOYEES GRIEVE WITH GIRL'S FAMILY

It was a parent's worst nightmare.

Semiyah Abdul toddled away from her parents Monday at a Wal-Mart Superstore for just a moment, but it was long enough for a large piece of furniture to somehow fall on top of her.

Now, grieving friends and sympathetic strangers have created shrines of posies, poems and presents at two entrances of the Virginia Beach store where the 2 1/2-year-old girl died. Colleagues of the child's father - Richard Abdul, a Wal-Mart sales associate - make several trips a day to the family's Chesapeake home, conveying sympathy with flowers, cards and home-cooked meals.

Wal-Mart employee Michael Coleman skated to work on his day off to inspect the shrine.

``She was a very happy, playful girl,'' Coleman said of Semiyah. ``It seemed like she was going to grow up to be a good person. This really touches my heart.''

Even those who did not know Semiyah well said they feel for her parents.

``I have a 5-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter and it could just as easily have been them,'' said store manager Dennis McMillan. ``Any time a child is involved, people feel robbed. It's probably the worst thing in the world when a child loses their life. . . . It's real easy to go home at night and stand over their beds and realize what's important in life.''

The store's 525 employees wear reminders of their loss - pins decorated with pink roses and ribbons of black and purple. Wal-Mart will arrange and pay for Semiyah's funeral this weekend, McMillan said.

Many passing customers paused at the memorial, some adding notes and flowers of their own.

``We know what these folks are going through,'' said customer Billie Dozier, who came to Wal-Mart with her 2-year-old granddaughter. She lost three of her grandchildren in a fire three years ago. ``Children will do things. You can't control them. When they get old enough to start climbing, you really have to watch them.''

Employees have held two memorial services at the store. Erwin Vaughn, a Wal-Mart meat cutter, led sales associates in prayer. Floral manager Tamara Picheloupe arranged bouquets wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with ribbons of purple - Semiyah's favorite color. Fabric department supervisor Patricia Lugo has recruited volunteers to cook the family lunch and dinner.

``With this being a new store, a lot of people don't know what it's like to be part of a Wal-Mart family,'' said sales associate Deb LeMaster. ``Now associates know we can depend on each other.''

No one yet knows how or why this tragedy happened, McMillan said.

Virginia Beach police are investigating Semiyah's death. Wal-Mart managers could not say how the entertainment center fell - whether the 100-pound television cabinet was tipped over, or whether the child pulled it down herself, McMillan said. The medical examiner found that Semiyah died from a skull fracture.

The 4 1/2-feet-high floor model was resting on a stand only four to six inches off the ground when it fell. Wal-Mart has never had any other accidents with its floor models, Wal-Mart spokesman Dale Ingram said.

``We try to conduct our business in the safest way possible,'' said McMillan, who personally inspected the display. ``Am I going out there and screwing everything down? I thought I was doing it before.''

Some customers questioned whether Wal-Mart could have prevented the accident.

``Stores shouldn't stack things up,'' Dozier said. ``Things should be low, where they (children) can't knock them over.''

Jim Philip said he sympathized with the Abdul family. Nothing can replace their loss, he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Flowers, cards and gifts fill a memorial outside a Virginia Beach

Super Wal-Mart...

Photo

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

A framed poem is one of many gifts...

Graphic

FUNERAL AND MEMORIALS

A funeral for Semiyah Abdul will be held at noon Saturday at