 "Photo: James Durbin ~ Daily Egyptian")
Marilynn Ross admits to still having tough nights.
Nights when she and her husband look down the hall of their Carbondale home and realize their daughter is no longer with them.
But Ross, mother of Alana DaNae Ross, who died Dec. 29 from injuries sustained in a car accident, said the good times she had with her daughter outweigh the hard times, and the outreach from the Carbondale community has helped ease her pain.
Alana DaNae Ross was just one of four students remembered Monday during a memorial service that warned students against the dangers of traveling during spring break.
Yasmin Jackson, Kevetta Davis and Ryan Rendleman were among the other students remembered. All four students were killed in car accidents within the past year.
Jackson and Davis died during an accident Sept. 26. Rendleman died April 29.
Ross said the gathering of more than 200 students and administrators was comforting in a time of distress.
“This is awesome,” she said. “We have so much support here in Carbondale and it’s wonderful. They are there whenever we need them no matter how big or small it is.
“Alana would be looking out saying, ‘Look at my fam, look at my genes.”
The event, sponsored by the Black Resource Center and several campus Registered Student Organizations, promoted safety during spring break travel.
“It’s really a way to remember students that have died at SIUC throughout its history,” said Kevin Kirkwood, a graduate assistant with the Black Resource Center who helped plan the event. “Car accidents were just the common thread with these tragedies and spring break is just around the corner, so we wanted to bring awareness to wearing your seat belt during travel.
“But it was also a way to allow for family and friends to speak out and know that their loved ones have not been forgotten.”
Administrators in attendance included Chancellor Sam Goldman, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Larry Dietz, Dean of Students Peter Gitau and Bill Freivogel, director of the School of Journalism.
Goldman said events such as the memorial are when students and administrators become unified.
“It’s at times like these when we all become one family, and that is very important,” Goldman said. “The kinds of friendships and relationships we make while we are here, you cannot quantify or describe them. I’m impressed.”
Goldman said tragedies during spring break are all too common among college students. And he said students should do all they can to make sure they cherish life.
“Nobody ever really plans for these things to happen. Nobody really ever expects them to happen. And nobody ever wants these to happen. But they do happen,” he said. “And it is important we have this event before spring break to look around and look at your friends and say, ‘I’d like to have that friend to be with me.’”
Lauryn McRoyal, a freshman from Chicago studying biology and a friend of Alana DaNae Ross, said the event helped her and her friends during the grieving stage of losing their friend.
“It was inspiring, and I’m sure it was inspiring for others as well,” she said. “It gave me the strength to keep going on. ... Tomorrow is never promised. (Alana) would have loved this. She didn’t know how many lives she actually touched.”
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