Heartache, hugs and hope intermingled during a Valentine’s Day balloon-launching ceremony for a 12-year-old known for her enduring smile.

Sammy Reagan’s family and 675 schoolmates at Columbia Elementary school remembered her Thursday by launching nearly 700 orange, red and pink balloons — red and pink for Valentine’s Day, Sammy’s favorite holiday, and orange because it was her favorite color.

Sammy, the daughter of Jill and Bill Reagan and sister of Jack and Brian, died Jan. 21 following a pileup involving nearly 100 vehicles on Interstate 275 in Colerain Twp.

The vivacious sixth-grader “just had a spirit about her,” said Jill Reagan, after watching the balloons soar into the air carrying a message about compassion and Jill Reagan’s email address.

“I know that she’s smiling down on us and just looking at everybody in awe,” Reagan said, tears streaming down her face.

Jill Reagan said the message she wants to send to students is to carry on Sammy’s spirit and treat other people the way you would want to be treated.

“There’s going to be things that are going to happen that are bad and that don’t make any sense … and you want to teach the kids how to grieve and where to go and that it’s OK,” she said.

Sixth-grader Lizzie Glasser said the balloon launch ceremony meant the world to her.

“I loved her so much, like a sister,” she said, her voice choking up with emotion. “All these people who came, they really meant a lot to her and they all know that. She was a friend to everyone, a best friend.”

Fellow longtime-friend Alaina O’Day, 11, said the balloon-launching ceremony showed that Sammy was special to many people.

“She’d just light up everybody’s world,” she said.

Sixth-grader Max Morrison said Sammy would be happy that so many people showed how much they cared about her.

“She impacted tons of our lives greatly and she had such a beautiful smile,” he said. “I think she would feel really good.”

Kellyn Schroeder, 12, said Sammy was always happy, smiling even when she was nervous and easy to talk to about life’s problems.

“I just like to know that people remember her,” Kellyn said about Thursday’s ceremony. “That makes me happy.”