Hailey Estes always hated her thin hair.

It likely wasn’t thin enough that anyone else would even notice. And it didn’t detract from her beauty. It was just a personal complaint — one she shared with her mom.

Four months after 19-year-old Hailey was killed in a traffic accident Paula Estes was seeking closure.

“I prayed to see her,” Paula said. “And I’ve had a peace since then.”

Paula’s prayer was answered, and either through dream, vision or pure reality, she saw her daughter again.

“I had a warm spot on my chest that went all the way to my toes,” Paula said. “She had on a white gown. And she had thick hair.”

That’s not a story Paula’s told many times, for fear of the crazy looks she may get, but it’s one that’s made a difference in her life.

Hailey Elizabeth Estes, a freshman at Ole Miss, was home for spring break on March 7, 1996. She brought a friend with her, Mindy Carlson, 18, of Edina, Minn.

Hailey was playing Miss-Lou tour guide that day. She took Mindy to Vidalia to visit a friend. They stopped at a gas station, and Hailey bought a Sprite, her father Terry Estes learned after the accident.

They were headed back home when Hailey crossed the intersection of Melrose-Montebello Parkway and Seargent S. Prentiss Drive.

The light was green for her. It was red for the fire truck that came barreling through anyway.

The policeman who knocked on the door told Paula Estes there had been a bad wreck. She started preparing to head to the hospital. But, it was a bad wreck, he said.

A trip to the hospital was pointless.

A week later, Paula wrapped the light pole at the intersection in ribbon and put up flowers. An angel that was used at the cemetery found a new home at the base of the pole.

About five years later family friends had another idea. Freddie and Pam Sandel had moved to Florida with International Paper. In that state, official, state-approved road signs mark the sites of accidents all over, Pam said.

The couple worked through the red tape in Mississippi and had a small black and white road sign posted at the site. It reads: “Drive carefully. In memory Hailey Estes.”

“Even though it was tragic, we just hope that something good, maybe through that sign, can come,” Pam Sandel said. “Hailey Beth was a precious young lady. We’ll never get over her death.”

It’s been 10 years now. The flowers on the light pole have been changed 40 times — four times a year at the start of each season. Paula does that herself.

Terry trims the weeds from around the site, sometimes with help from friends.

And the angel is a different one.

“We go by the site constantly, a thousand times a week,” Terry said. “It’s just with you, but you learn to cope.”

Hailey loved children and dancing. She was a member of the Lady Blues at Natchez High School, before she transferred to Cathedral School. She was on the dance team at Ole Miss and had just joined a sorority.

She hadn’t picked a major yet, but Paula thinks Hailey would have ended up working with children in some way.

“Our faith is so strong we know we’ll see her again,” Paula said. “I have that assurance. I think God just needed her for something. We’ll never know the reason here on Earth, but one day we’ll know.”

Terry, Paula and Hailey’s older brother Brett had to pull together to make it through, Terry said.

“We had to bond together a whole lot,” he said. “We love each other a lot, and we had a wonderful child for 19 years. We enjoyed it, and we remember it. And we miss her a bunch.”