Ga. friends remember slain Va. Tech student as an inspiration

<p>AUGUSTA, Ga. _ Ryan Christopher Clark was celebrated Monday as an example of how to live and love, in joyful song and tearful tributes from his friends, family and classmates.</p><p>The Martinez, Ga., native was about a month shy of his 23rd birthday and just a few weeks short of his graduation from Virginia Tech when he was gunned down in a residence hall in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.</p><p>During his five years as a Hokie, Clark played the baritone horn, served as a residence hall assistant and earned degrees in psychology, biology and English. Although he had not graduated, he and the other victims are receiving posthumous degrees on May 11.</p><p>The Marching Virginians saluted Clark on Saturday and several band members attended Monday's funeral.</p><p>Kimberly Daniloski, also a member of the baritone section, told the mourners who gathered Monday at Tabernacle Baptist Church, "He had so many friends; so many people loved him. I loved him ... I was better when I was with him, and I am better because I knew him."</p><p>Many from Clark's home town also came to say goodbye.</p><p>Ayanna Maii Simmons, a childhood friend of the slain student, said Clark has always been the smiling, laughing person the world has come to know, and that she has been inspired by his life.</p><p>"I have been waiting for something spectacular or significant to happen to me to start living my life," she said. "I'm going to stop waiting and start living my life right now."</p><p>Clark and 31 others were killed last week by a student gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, who then took his own life.</p><p>Classes resumed Monday at Virginia Tech amid memorial observances for the slain.</p>