Remembering Toby Eagle, the Girl with a Dream

Every year on the 19th of Menachem Av, family, friends and community members mark the Yahrtzeit of Toby Eagle, OBM, a vibrant 20-year-old from Baltimore, Maryland, who lost her life in a tragic car accident near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on August 3, 2007 (19 Menachem Av, 5767).

As befits Toby, she and two companions were on their way to celebrate Shabbat with friends and campers (including a young boy who had lost his mother) at Camp Gan Israel, Myrtle Beach, where Toby worked two summers earlier.

Toby was the second of eleven children and a leader both inside and outside the home. After being home-educated for most of her life, she chose to attend Bnos Rabbeinu High School in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 14.

Toby was, above all, an intensely spiritual person who immersed herself in the teachings of Chassidus and the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Toby bridged the gap between the spiritual and the material. She was a talented violinist and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

She was passionate about the study of science from a young age and aspired to earn a joint MD/PhD degree. Her goal was to do medical research and join the battle against cancer and other diseases. Toby was exceptionally gifted in the laboratory and with anything that involved intricate assembly.

Toby was an “MB3” major at Towson University (Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics), where she was in the honors program and on the Dean’s list. She also took classes during the summer and worked as an intern in cancer research at Johns Hopkins Medicine.