Delaney Marie “Laney” Gaddis, who enjoyed swimming, dressing up as a princess and drawing pictures to give to family and friends, died Monday at age 5.

She was the daughter of Brian Gaddis, a Baltimore County police officer, and Jennifer Gaddis, a nursery school educator.

She had attended Berry Patch Early Learning Center in Hampstead, where her mother was a teacher, and was enrolled in the Summer Sparklers program at Shrewsbury Elementary School in Shrewsbury, Pa., where she lived with her parents. She was to begin kindergarten next month.

Known as “Laney,” she was “ a fun-loving little girl with a beautiful smile” wrote her grandfather, Bob Limmer of New Freedom, Pa., in a biographical profile of his granddaughter.

“She loved ballet and tap, gymnastics, and loved to play with her new friends in her neighborhood and her many cousins near and far,” he wrote.

He also noted her love for her two cats, Gus and Ashes. He said she “loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian or horseback rider when she grew up.”

She enjoyed swimming in the ocean and the pool, and also liked books, videos, puzzles and playing with dolls. Her favorite restaurant was Chick-fil-A. She loved spending time with her grandparents.

Her grandfather said Laney liked taking trips to Ocean City and going on boat rides in her father’s lap, and playing with him on the beach. When her father went to work, she “hugged him so tight it was hard to get her out of his arms,” he wrote.

She loved reading “The Kissing Hand” with her mother, a book that “helps children prepare for life events that are new and may be scary to them,” her grandfather wrote. He added that she was an organ donor, calling it “her final act in this short but very full life.”

“Even in death, Delaney is helping others, a small solace for those who knew and loved her so much,” he wrote.

In addition to her parents and her grandfather, she is survived by another grandfather, George Gaddis; grandmother Julia Shuman; step-grandfather Terry Shuman; and step-grandmother Lisa Gaddis, all of Maryland; another step-grandmother, Marsha Limmer, of Pennsylvania; two uncles; and many cousins.

— Frederick N. Rasmussen