Lily Grace Elwood never smiled as a baby.

For the first nine or so months of Lily’s life, her mother pulled out all the tricks in the hopes she would elicit a toothless grin. She once hurt her neck jumping and dancing around the house in an effort to entertain her daughter, but no luck.

Lily needed a small operation to correct a neural tube that hadn’t fully developed, and soon after, “this little girl came out of her shell,” Tracey Elwood said. Lily started smiling — and she never stopped.

It was infectious.

“She was always laughing,” said friend Savanna Kahl. “There was never a time where she wasn’t able to make a joke out of something. She’s always been the type of person to just make you feel better.”

When Savanna thinks of her friend now, she pictures a lily flower. It’s an apt comparison, she said, because Lily was always growing, and she pushed the people around her to grow, too.

Lily, a spirited daughter, sister and friend who loved going to the beach and taking long drives with her boyfriend, died Monday, less than three weeks before her 17th birthday. The cause of death is not yet known.

She was born June 27, 2008, to Christopher and Tracey Elwood at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson. Her parents had waited nine months to find out whether their 2-year-old daughter, Karleigh, would have a baby brother or sister. They knew a boy would be named “Cannon,” but a girl’s name was trickier.

As they approached the hospital, they turned into a parking garage — the Lily Park garage. They’d already been considering the name, but that sealed the deal.

So, when Lily was born, her parents were proud to say they had “the cutest little parking garage ever,” Chris Elwood said. Meanwhile, Karleigh insisted on calling her Cannon, at least for the first couple weeks she was around.

The family lived in Perry Hall and White Marsh before moving to Joppa when Lily was 5. She was a bright, vibrant child who followed her older sister around everywhere. Whenever Karleigh did something, Lily followed and shouted, “Me, too, Sissy!” As they grew older, and started to tease each other more, it sometimes turned into a loving, “F— you, Sissy!”

As a young girl, Lily participated in Girl Scouts, had sleepovers with friends and learned to bake. Her mother didn’t know it at the time, but in elementary school she also started a YouTube channel where she posted videos of herself making slime. She would give away containers to friends and family as the local “slime plug,” Karleigh joked.

Lily spent the entirety of her educational career in Harford County Public Schools, starting at Youth’s Benefit Elementary School and spending the pandemic years at Fallston Middle School. She was a junior at Fallston High School when she died.

She was an excellent student and a member of the National Honor Society, her family said. She played field hockey during her sophomore year. She had a lot of absences, Tracey Elwood laughed, but it never hurt her grades. She was taking AP classes, and she talked of going to esthetician school to learn how to do nails and facials professionally.

She had so many varied interests that she couldn’t pin down a future career right away, her mother said. The rough plan was to make money offering beauty services while taking a few college classes until she figured out what she wanted to do. She had plenty of experience practicing hair and makeup on her older sister.

“We all know that she was going to be something spectacular,” her mother said. “In our mind now, we’re going to make it that she lives on, and we’re going to make sure that her legacy lives on.”

The family is working to start a foundation in her name, which they plan to use to support causes meaningful to Lily. Her friends created a GoFundMe to help launch the foundation.

At home, Lily enjoyed spending time with her animals — the family kept dogs, cats, birds, a chameleon and other pets through the years. She rescued a dog, Presto, named for her favorite song by the rock band Rush.

She loved joking around with Karleigh and her parents, but especially enjoyed getting them to do her bidding (and it helped that, at one point, she had her father’s credit card number memorized).

“Lily was fiercely an agitator, an ankle-biter about anything she wanted,” Chris Elwood said, chuckling. “If she wanted a vacation, she would just beat you down into submission with a stick.”

She would plan a trip down to the tiniest details, handing her parents an inventory of potential costs and activities. Lily was happiest on the beach in Ocean City. Back in Harford County, she also loved having friends over — her house was the hangout spot — and eating her favorite meal: salmon, asparagus and couscous.

Always bubbly, Lily kept a wide circle of friends who found her to be nonjudgmental and easy to talk to. She was confident and outgoing. She often said, half-seriously, that she would become internet famous and share the wealth.

“Whenever we would go out to any party or anything, when we would walk into the room, everyone just loved her,” said friend Natalie Gross. “She was constantly talking to people, hugging them. She just loved to be around people so much.”

But she enjoyed no one’s company more than that of her boyfriend, Jaden Riley.

The two met at a party late last year. Jaden drove her home and found himself back at her house soon after. They spent pretty much every day together from then on, chatting during long drives or while eating ice cream.

The first night they met, Lily told Jaden that she had never been in love, and she didn’t think she ever would be. About two weeks later, they were sitting in his car outside of her house. He introduced her to the rapper Rod Wave and started singing. That was when she fell in love, she later told her boyfriend.

Jaden always brought her flowers, something pink or red. She meant everything to him, he said, and he wrote on social media that she made him “the luckiest guy alive.”

Lily spent the last week of her life with Jaden and friends in Ocean City, sitting on the beach in a big circle and listening to music. Her friends and family will be back at the beach again on June 27 to do the same for her 17th birthday.

A candlelight vigil and prayer walk will be held at the Fallston High School courtyard Friday at 7:30 p.m. Lily’s services are scheduled for June 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at Schimunek Funeral Home of Bel Air.

The Banner publishes news stories about people who have recently died in Maryland. If your loved one has passed and you would like to inquire about an obituary, please contact obituary@thebaltimorebanner.com. If you are interested in placing a paid death notice, please contact groupsales@thebaltimorebanner.com or visit this website.