Jami Marie Herness, 18, died on Wednesday evening, Jan. 17, 2007, of injuries received in an auto accident.

Jami was born to Marge Osterman on Oct. 29, 1988, in Great Falls, and is the daughter of Donald and Jill (Loomer) Herness. They made their home in Culbertson, where she grew up and attended schools. Jami was a senior at Culbertson High School at the time of her death.

While in school Jami was very active in sports and school activities. They include; basketball, track, volleyball, speech and drama, the school play, Business Professionals of America, the drill team, band, choir, and softball. She was learning how to play the guitar and she loved her cats. Jami enjoyed writing poetry and drawing, she attended the Montana Institute of Art for two years. Jami was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Culbertson and was active in the high school youth group and had attended the national youth gathering in San Antonio, Texas last July.

Jami received the 2006 Spirit of Speech and Drama Award, and was Homecoming Queen in 2006. While in eighth grade, Jami was very proud to be the manager for the Culbertson High Girls Basketball Team that placed second in the State of Montana for Class C School State in 2003. Jami was accepted to the Jamestown College and had planned to pursue a double major in music and theatre.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Wilfred and Martha Herness and uncle, Wayne Herness.

Surviving her are: her parents, Donald and Jill Herness of Culbertson; sisters, Lindsey Herness of Culbertson, and Heather Osterman of East Helena; a brother, Josh of Helena; grandparents, Francis and Esther Loomer of Glasgow; birth mother, Marge (Richard) Osterman of East Helena; aunts and uncles, Douglas Loomer and Suzie Ostrem of Big Fork, Jo (Randy) Pates of Billings, and Janice (Curtis) Miller of Sugar Land, Texas; nephews, Julian and Christian Pates; special friends, Bev, Terril, Jennesy and Jamie Raaum of Culbertson; Jami's goddaughter, Kailie Leinen and her mother, Amanda Leinen of Culbertson.

Funeral services for Jami are at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 23, at the Culbertson High School Gym. Interment will be in the Hillside Cemetery in Culbertson under the direction of the Fulkerson Funeral Home of Sidney.