Nothing hits a community harder than the loss of a young life, and it is only made more tragic when that life held so much hope and promise for the future.

Talent and charisma were two things Marina Keegan had in droves, according to her friends and classmates; already emerging as a prolific writer at age 22, she was well-known at Yale University for her creative mind and kindness, as well. English lecturer John Crowley wrote about her:

“She was an exceptional person, wildly talented, and with the confidence and character (and personal modesty) to have done fine things…the loss also to the world that lay before her. In what seems to me now the beautiful yet terribly small pile of writing she left, that’s clear.”

When news came on Saturday that she had died in a car accident in Cape Cod–just five days after her graduation–the unthinkable was suddenly at everyone’s doorstep.

Unfortunately, her classmates and teachers had nowhere to go to comfort one another in their loss, as usually when a student passes away the campus holds a vigil and can attend counseling for their grief. Because classes have been dismissed for summer, this was impossible. But school officials have found a way around it, setting up a virtual wake for the young woman who held such promise.

“To honor Marina’s life, we are asking students to share memories of her with the News — funny stories, lasting impressions, lessons from a woman gone so young. We will edit only for grammar, and publish these memories to our blog in the coming week. We will not accept anonymous submissions. To submit a memory of Marina, email it to [email protected]. We will accept submissions through Friday,” the blog reads.

The blog already contains entries from her teachers, one in particular who remembered the young writer with a fond sadness. DebMargolin writes:

“I have a sign-in book that students must fill out whenever I’m teaching a class, and the categories include some demented category like Something Everyone Seems to Understand But You Don’t, or whatever. In the last entry I have from beautiful Marina, this category was:

Everything That Ever Happened To You In Your Whole Life
Marina wrote:
Read a lot and met great people. Was very lucky.
The word LUCKY was underlined.”

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