GILROY
– Hundreds of Erin Kinkel’s friends and family members gathered
yesterday to remember the 15-year-old who seemed to have so much
ahead of her and yet left behind a spirit that will last a
lifetime.
Mourners packed into Oakwood Country School in Morgan Hill
Thursday afternoon, creating a slow-moving line that snaked back to
the overflowing parking lots.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Hundreds of Erin Kinkel’s friends and family members gathered yesterday to remember the 15-year-old who seemed to have so much ahead of her and yet left behind a spirit that will last a lifetime.
Mourners packed into Oakwood Country School in Morgan Hill Thursday afternoon, creating a slow-moving line that snaked back to the overflowing parking lots. Cars lined the short street, parked along red-painted curbs and in fields next to the school.
Members of the Kinkel family, including mother and father Miki and Scott, with sisters Megan, 12, Danielle, 7, and Catherine, 4, accepted hugs and condolences. They wore pastel colors because, Scott said, Erin Kinkel wouldn’t have wanted them to be dressed all in black.
Behind the rows of chairs filling the auditorium, friends and relatives of all ages filed past innumerable photographs of the petite, red-headed, freckled Kinkel. In some pictures, she was doing gymnastics or karate, in others she was cheerleading or just goofing around with pals. But in all of them, she was wearing the smile that many say is what they remember most.
“Those of us who knew her knew that shininess, knew that brightness and you knew the (humility) that was there and is still there in her spirit,” said Jose “Mr. Pepe” Espinoza, the so-called master of ceremonies for the two-and-a-half-hour memorial.
Kinkel, who would have started her junior year at Gilroy High School later this month, died early Sunday morning after being thrown from the bed of a pick-up truck driving on Redwood Retreat Road.
Espinoza, a theater arts instructor who directed Kinkel for four summers, praised her gymnasticts skills.
He even nicknamed her “Kinkel-Linkel” and “Fly girl.”
Megan Kinkel, the eldest of Erin’s three little sisters, read some of the poetry that Erin was constantly writing.
One reflected on some of the tangible pleasures Kinkel liked most: the smell of Christmas trees in December, chai tea beverages or chicken and rice cooking on the stove. One, written on Valentine’s Day, addressed her boyfriend, Jason Cole.
“Thank you for the part of me that you bring out.”
Danielle and Catherine Kinkel also spoke from the stage filled with bouquets of blue, white, pink and yellow flowers. The audience chuckled as Danielle read from a book she wrote to remember her sister.
“My sister is sweet and nice and lovely,” she said. “She is not neat. Her favorite color is blue. She loves her boyfriend Jason.”
Danielle and Scott Kinkel both studied karate with Erin at West Coast Martial Arts in Morgan Hill, with plans to earn a black belt in tae kwon do. Thursday afternoon, Erin Kinkel’s family was presented with an honorary black belt, granted to acknowledge her physical, mental and spiritual strength and her overall character.
The GHS cheerleading squad that Kinkel was a part of during her sophomore year performed a cheer in her honor. Kinkel earned a spot on the varsity squad that started practice last week.
“Erin was rich with love and she was full of love for her family and friends,” one student said as 11 cheerleaders stood in a row with signs held to their chests. With each comment read by members of the squad, the signs were turned over to eventually spell out “ERIN KINKEL.”
Perhaps the most cheerful point in the ceremony – and also one of the most touching – was when Cole shared his favorite memories of his girlfriend.
There were “those bangs” she used to wear.
“The bangs could never get messed up,” Cole said. “If the wind messed up her bangs, the day was over.”
Despite the lack of air conditioning in Cole’s car and the summer heat, Kinkel wouldn’t let him roll down the windows, to protect her hairstyle. At karate lessons, Kinkel would constantly check her reflection to ensure her bangs were in perfect order. Cole was relieved, though in disbelief, when Kinkel decided to grow them out.
Kinkel also was sentimental in a pack-rat sort of way, Cole said.
“She kept anything and everything,” he said. “I gave her a rubber band because she needed to tie her hair up once and she kept that. I thought it was kind of freaky until I learned to appreciate it.”
A video of photographs of Kinkel, compiled by West Coast Martial Arts in Morgan Hill, concluded the service. They passed like a slide show set to music, showing Kinkel as an infant, toddler, girl and finally, a bubbly teenager, performing on stage or wearing a prom dress.
After the memorial service, Kinkel was laid to rest in Gavilan Hills Cemetery in Gilroy. Mr. Pepe told those gathered at Oakwood that Kinkel’s spirit will never die.
“The moments you felt and knew of Erin – those are treasured moments,” he said. “That is a part of Erin’s spirit that will continue to live on in all of us.”
