Many of us have taken time to write our thoughts and prayers on the memorials outside of Holmes Student Center, on makeshift boards and melting snow piles. We ask each visitor to take a moment to share your heart here on niutogetherforward.com as a way to keep those thoughts and prayers around when the memorial boards break and the snow melts.
Hear the stories of healing and hope from members of the V-Tech campus community
February 28, Capitol Room in Holmes Student Center
7:30 PM — Finding Healing through Community
9:00 PM — Finding Hope through Faith
Free NIU Remembers t-shirt for everyone in attendance
Sponsored by Cru
www.niucru.com
Ryanne Mace had the unique ability to help and comfort people with her words and actions.
“In high school, some of her friends were kind of fringe kids who were maybe picked on by others or a little disenfranchised,” her father Eric recalled. “She was level-headed and smart, and as a result, they went to her for advice. At some point she decided that’s what she wanted to do with her life.”
At NIU, Mace, a 19-year-old sophomore from Carpentersville, was an honors student studying psychology with the intention of attaining a doctorate-level degree and working in the field of counseling. She had already served an internship in high school at a counseling center.
“She was a good kid, funny and brilliant,” said her mother, Mary Kay.
Her daughter studied French, had played violin in the symphony orchestra at Dundee-Crown High School and was an avid reader, sometimes juggling four or five books at a time.
But she was also a typical college student who would sleep past noon, was willing to stand in line at midnight for the next Harry Potter offering and collected things of all sorts.
“You never knew what she would start accumulating,” her father said. “When she came to NIU she had probably 500 writing utensils. She even had a purple Sharpie on her key chain.”
Faculty members who knew her at NIU described a young woman who was intellectually engaged, highly motivated, outgoing and friendly. Mace was taking a psychology course with Professor Kevin Wu, who said she was interested in studying mental illness.
“She was taking my course as an honors student, which meant she was going to complete a project with me,” Wu said. “She had gotten a good start and was very enthusiastic about the work she was doing.”
Psychology Professor Lisa Finkelstein had mentored Mace last year and had her in a social psychology course this semester.
“She was always friendly and laughing—just a really good kid,” Finkelstein said. “Ryanne was one of those students who really wanted to be there.”
Bio taken from niu memorial web page
Julianna Gehant loved children, country music and, most recently, ballroom dancing.
The elementary education major also loved her tight-knit Mendota, Ill., family and her homeland.
Before coming to NIU last September, she logged 12 years in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserves. As a Sergeant First Class in an engineering unit, the 32-year-old served a tour of Bosnia. It was during her military years that Gehant earned some experience as a teacher and found a career path.
“We were the same age. We were at the same place in our lives. We clicked right away, and I’m heartbroken,” said Jennifer Webster, a friend from the NIU Veterans Club. “We described her as a ray of sunshine. She lit up a room, and everyone had more fun when she was around. We’re very sad. Very sad.”
Gehant was “smart, kind and conscientious,” said Betsy Smith, her academic adviser in the College of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning.
“She would have been a really good teacher. Because she was older, she really knew for sure that teaching was something she wanted to do, and she was willing to put aside everything to pursue that dream,” Smith said. “She was taking a science class so she could better prepare to teach science when so many people don’t like science. She went above and beyond.”
Members of the NIU Veterans Club gathered the morning of Friday, Feb. 15, to lay a wreath at the Veteran’s Memorial Flagpole, located near Altgeld Hall, in Gehant’s honor. They plan a remembrance service soon and will add a plaque to the flagpole base in her memory.
“It’s truly a great loss to the world that she’s no longer with us,” Webster said. “I want everyone to know her name. I want everyone to know her face and how wonderful she was.”
“She was an intelligent, highly motivated young lady who served her country and came back. To be lost in this manner is such a tragedy,” said Jon Lehuta, adviser to the NIU Veterans Club. “We’re very solemn. We’re a pretty close group. We know each other. The military bond makes us somewhat like brothers right out of the box. This really hurts.”
Bio taken from niu memorial web page
Gayle Dubowski made friends at NIU immediately upon arrival as a freshman in the fall of 2006.
Dubowski’s family is a longtime member of the Chicago Church of Christ, which has a campus chapter in DeKalb. Chris Zillman, evangelist of the DeKalb Church of Christ, was her chaplain.
“She had very deep beliefs and was very passionate about her faith. There are probably a lot of students who may not have known her personally but probably were invited to a Bible discussion by her,” Zillman said. “We’re always in the student center, and she was always there with us. She was shy, so it was hard for her to do, but she loved what she believed in that much.”
The 20-year-old sophomore from Carol Stream was a bright student who was beginning her career path in anthropology.
“Gayle had just declared anthropology as major last month,” said Professor Andrea Molnar, who had Dubowski in a cultural anthropology class this semester. “Gayle asked intelligent questions and made smart observations. She was a very active participant in the classroom and stood out for that reason.
“I remember after one lecture her coming up and telling me about her Polish background,” Molnar added. “I had revealed I was born in Hungary, and the Eastern European connection seemed to strike a chord with her. I took that to mean that she was proud of her Polish heritage.”
Dubowski also was studying the Russian language and was strong academically in other subjects. “She was a go-to student,” said Jack Haines, an NIU English instructor. “She was a good writer and thinker – a top-shelf student.”
Yet she had a childlike side, Zillman said, and a unique sweetness. She loved to sing and to read books, especially by J.R.R. Tolkien. She knitted gifts for friends, he said, and even loved to wash dishes in other people’s homes.
“Wherever she was going, she was always doing something for somebody, whether she was folding their clothes or doing their dishes,” he said. “If it rained, she’d run outside and jump in the puddles. When it snowed, you’d always find her buried somewhere, making a snow angel or tromping through the snow.”
Bio taken from niu memorial web page
Daniel Parmenter was tall. Real tall.
“He was about 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5,” said Martin Smith, a friend who played intramural rugby with Parmenter. “Dan was a typical sports guy. He played football in high school. He played rugby in high school. He played intramural softball and flag football.”
“Dan was our gentle giant,” said Maria Krull, business adviser to the Northern Star, the student campus newspaper where the 20-year-old Parmenter worked as an advertising representative.
“Very nice, always somebody you could count on, smiley face, never lost his temper – just what you really want to have for a co-worker, although we don’t see each other as co-workers. We are family, and that’s why it’s so hard on the kids. They’re taking it very, very hard.”
A finance major from Westchester, Ill., Parmenter joined the Northern Star staff last April. He also was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, better known as the Pikes. And, Smith said, Parmenter enjoyed going out for a party like any college student.
But his family and friends will remember other things: his intelligence, his honesty, his common sense, his strong work ethic and his curiosity about learning new and different things.
Parmenter rose quickly at the newspaper, colleague Chris Fiordirosa said.
“He was rapidly promoted to sales rep after only a semester. He was a very hard worker,” Fiordirosa said. “He never asked questions about why he was doing anything. He was always joking, smiling in the office. He got along with everybody. We were all pretty close; everybody is pretty somber right now and still shocked.”
The Star’s students are discussing ways to memorialize their friend, Krull said. The result could become a scholarship in his name: “We want to make sure that he’s going to be here forever,” she said.
“The mood is we lost a brother, and it’s even hard to imagine,” Krull said. “But I think they’ve decided they’re going to go on and honor him by doing so.”
Bio taken from niu memorial web page
Catalina Garcia, a 20-year-old sophomore from Cicero majoring in elementary education, was active with the Latino Resource Center and was to begin a new job as an undergraduate work-study employee for NIU’s Center for Latino and Latin American Studies.
“My sister was our princess, our princess in pink,” said Jaime Garcia, Catalina’s older brother. “She loved pink. She loved everything in life. Let’s remember her this way today, tomorrow and forever.”
“She was a star among stars,” added NIU’s Susana Das Neves, assistant director for the Latino Resource Center at NIU. “She always had a smile on her face. She was a very optimistic, loving and caring young lady who lived life to the fullest.”
See the Garcia family’s memorial Web site for Catalina
Bio taken from niu memorial web page