The were among the hundreds who showed up the minute the call went out for searchers — two sisters who live within minutes of each other in the Ogden area. It was the younger of the pair, Melinda Giffard, who first heard the news about the young girl who had been kidnapped in Salt Lake. She called her sister, Christy Kinney, and cried as she talked about it.
"We need to help find that girl," said Melinda. And her big sister, as she knew she would, agreed wholeheartedly.
Early the next morning, they got together for the ride to Salt Lake. Christy decided it made sense if she drove. Her car, an electric hybrid, gets 70 miles to the gallon.
Good thing. Because for the next 2 1/2 months, the car would daily make the 80-mile round-trip to the Salt Lake search center. Christy and Melinda dropped everything else — jobs, hobbies, quality time with husbands — to do one thing: Look for Elizabeth Smart.
A year has gone by and the sisters who became known as "The Girls" are back home in Ogden. They are amazed, like everyone else, at all that has transpired since the day so many people stopped what they were doing and started searching for a 14-year-old girl they did not know. Amazed that Elizabeth was found. Amazed that they became so emotionally involved. Amazed at the effect it had on them personally.
"It changed my life forever," Melinda says as Christy nods, "Me too."
They remember that they intended to volunteer "for a couple of hours." But just as they were beginning their search orientation, someone shouted, "We need two people on phones." Christy volunteered herself and Melinda.
"I was mad at first," says Melinda. "I wanted to go out and find that girl."
But the phone job turned out to be an indispensable position, and "The Girls" were so good at it they became irreplaceable.
"They came at 5 every morning and didn't go home till midnight, and then we had to shoo them out," remembers Angela Smart Dumke, Elizabeth's aunt and search center regular. "They were the dynamic duo."
They stayed at their post from June 6 until the middle of August, when the Elizabeth Smart Search Center finally shut down.
When they left the parking lot after that final shift the sisters had tears in their eyes, for Elizabeth had not yet been found.
On March 12, when Elizabeth was found, they had tears in their eyes again. Christy learned the news from an e-mail at work and her shriek could be heard throughout the office. Melinda was at Weber State University in a meeting that effectively ended the minute she heard.
They were soon back in Christy's car traveling the familiar route to Salt Lake City, where the Smarts were congregating to hold a public celebration. When "The Girls" approached the church house that was once search headquarters, one of Elizabeth's uncles saw them and shouted "They're family!" and pulled them into the family prayer circle inside the building.
"It was all hugs, tears and smiles that wouldn't go away," remembers Christy.
More hugs, tears and smiles are sure to be revived this week on the one-year anniversary of "The Search." And that includes by "The Girls," who started answering phones one morning and did not stop.
"There was a time when we were really dreading the summer coming," says Christy. "But that was before Elizabeth was found. Now she's safe again and that's what matters. And that family is in our hearts and will never leave. They taught us what dignity is, and faith and hope — and never giving up."
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com.