A range of emotions emanated from Hayward Field Wednesday as students and friends crowded the stands in memory of University freshman Jill Dieringer, who died Feb. 9 of meningococcal disease.
Many of Dieringer’s sorority sisters from Kappa Delta wore black clothing while some didn’t need it; grim faces were enough. Although the death of Dieringer is sad and heartfelt, some who gathered were cheerful, reflecting on their memories of Dieringer and of her character. Some students said they went to Hayward to end the sadness, while others went simply to pay respect.
“It’s been difficult,” said Derringer’s friend and housemate Kelsey Culligan. “I came to pay my respects and to help find closure. She was a great person, and we will miss her.”
Kelsey Mitchell, president of Kappa Delta, welcomed the more-than-200 people filling the bleachers at Hayward Field to pay their respects during a candlelight vigil held at 6:30 p.m. Mitchell said the candles symbolized Dieringer’s life and the impact she had on those around her.
Preceding Mitchell’s brief welcoming speech, people shared the flame of the candles among those around them. Soon after, flickering candles dotted the stands.
Little details seem to mean the most to those remembering Dieringer. Lacey Ogan, a friend of Dieringer’s and a member of Kappa Delta, said that something as insignificant as the color pink, Dieringer’s favorite color, is now meaningful.
Friends and family who attended Dieringer’s funeral service wore pink ribbons with a small photo of Dieringer pinned to their jackets.
“I will never look at pink the same way,” Ogan said to the crowd. “As long as I have pink with me, I have Jill with me.”
Barbara Penney and Emily Clark, representatives of Cloran Hall, followed Ogan’s reflection of Dieringer.
Although Dieringer’s passion for pink was remembered, her love for singing will be missed even more.
Penney said that Dieringer loved Madonna and even had her own renditions of the pop star’s songs.
“Needless to say, we would’ve rather heard Madonna,” she said.
Penney ended her speech with a brief passage from a poem.
“Jill was the light, and we will enjoy this time of darkness without her,” she said.
After laughs and sniffles that echoed in the bleachers subsided, Leah Gadsen sang a gospel rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
Next, Dieringer’s boyfriend, Kyle Knepper, stood at the podium and said there were no “see-ya laters” or “goodbyes”; it just ended. We go through our whole lives working our way to heaven, he said, and Dieringer simply went early.
“Jill definitely earned it,” he said.
He still waits for her phone calls at the end of the day, he said, though he knows he won’t be getting one.
“I know she is watching and listening to me,” he said.
Mitchell then rose from her seat and introduced the Kappa Delta members in attendance. With their candles glowing they rose and sang “I Believe,” the chapter’s song.
Following this tribute, a moment of silence hushed Hayward Field. Some stared at the candles in their hands while others cried.
Mitchell broke the silence and instructed those who held lit candles to blow the lights out.
“She will live in our hearts forever,” she said.
It has been nearly two weeks since Dieringer died of meningococcal disease, and many of the student’s fears of catching the disease themselves are beginning to end.
“Some of the girls are really paranoid, but they’re slowly moving on,” Culligan said.
Culligan took the pill given to those close to Dieringer to prevent infection but said that her mother encouraged her to get the meningococcal vaccine shot as well.
Jessie Cooper, who lived across the hall from Dieringer, agreed.
“The immediate fear is gone,” she said.
Although fear of contraction is coming to a halt, many of Dieringer’s friends and housemates are dealing with the concept of death for the first time.
“This gave me a sense of my own mortality,” Cooper said. “For a lot of us, this is our first experience with death. It’s hard to grasp and cope with.”