Stephanie Allton was one of the best friends have ever had.  We first met each other back in 1986 when I was working at Rumors Lounge at the Ramada Inn, Columbia.  She told me that she always got such a laugh from me singing funny and dirty lyrics to the music that was played there.  After she left Ramada, we didn't see much of each other until we both started at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia.  From that point, we were pretty much hanging out buddies.  We partied together, talked, went to horse shows, and many other things.  She was one of the few people in my life who treated me like a human being rather than just taking me for granted.  We took classes together as well.  I sometimes thought of her as the sister I never had.  She was a very attractive woman, but that type of relationship was never there, partly because we were not each others type, romantically.  I can only say right now that I am very sad she is gone.  We shared alot together, and we are both animal lovers.  That is partly why she is not in this world anymore, which makes me very proud of her.  There was a tornado in the Springfield, Mo area, and she was trying to calm her horses, and I believe trying to get her dog, and on the way back to her house, a tree fell and hit her.  I will miss her probably for the rest of my life.  One never thinks that a person their own age will ever be gone, and it was quite a shock to me when I found out about it.  I am still mourning her, and it comes and goes.  Her love for horses and animals will always be a part of the memory of who she was.  Her animals meant more to her than most anything else in the world.  Because of that alone, I believe she will have a place in heaven.