The past two years have been difficult for 9-year-old Jenna Barnes. Jenna lost her mother in July 2007 and this past October tragedy struck yet again.

Jenna’s father, Michael Barnes, was working on a building project on Oct. 5 when he suffered a heart attack and two strokes. On Oct. 27, Barnes suffered another massive heart attack and passed away at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

With no relatives remaining in Ashe County, Jenna was forced to leave her friends behind at Mountain View Elementary and move to Kernersville in Forsyth County to live with her grandparents.

It was not an easy transition for Jenna at first but she soon adjusted.

“Jenna was one of the top students at Mountain View,” her grandfather, Bob Reavis, said. “She was on the ‘A’ Honor Roll and just as Michael went into the hospital, she was placed into the Academically and Intellectually Gifted class. Her father never saw that. After he passed away we made the decision to bring her to Winston.”

Jenna was reluctant to leave the only place she had ever called home.

“She hated to leave Ashe County,” Reavis said. “She had been there the whole nine years of her life but she has made a wonderful transition and adjustment under difficult circumstances.”

On Friday, that transition became a little smoother for Jenna when representatives from G.E. Aviation in West Jefferson visited her at Thomas H. Cash Elementary in Kernersville to present her with an early Christmas present.

One month prior to Friday’s visit, employees at the plant took up a collection to purchase a laptop computer for Jenna, who had a connection with the plant as her late father had coached junior league basketball with a company employee.

She was presented with the Toshiba computer Friday morning in the principal’s office.

“She was in a real ‘deer in the headlights’ look when she was called to the principal’s office,” Reavis said. “She was in awe and kind of wondering what was going on. When she was presented with the computer she just broke out in a big smile.”

In addition to the computer, the company also deposited funds into an account that was established for Jenna at First Citizens Bank in Ashe County.

The school’s principal, Donna Cannon, explained that the company’s gesture “exemplified the holiday spirit.”

Cannon also explained that the gesture goes beyond the holiday spirit as the computer will serve as a tool for Jenna to utilize in continuing her education.

“You may not realize how important this gift is now, but you will as you learn how your education will be important,” Cannon said to Jenna.

Reavis explained that the two representatives who visited the school made “a great impression on the teachers and touched a lot of hearts.”

“They really reached out and did something awfully nice,” Reavis said. “Other members of the community responded well. It just means so much when people reach out like that.”