Friends Keep Memories of Accident Victims Alive : Deaths: They turn tragedy into campaign against drunk driving after Santa Monica crash.

An impromptu memorial has risen at the spot in Santa Monica where an alleged drunk driver crashed into another car, killing four people early Sunday morning.

Friends have left dozens of bouquets behind the little white plastic fence they put up around the base of the traffic light, the site of one of the most deadly crashes in Santa Monica’s history. And they have left notes to let those who died know they were loved and will be remembered.

“Chris--Whenever I bake a homemade lasagna I will think of you,” one reads. Banners from children coached by two of the victims promise they will be forever in the youngsters’ hearts.

Christopher Baker, 26, Robert Cash, 24, and Julie Marie Dicks, 23, all of Santa Monica, were killed when the Honda in which they were riding was struck by a Jeep Cherokee driven by Dariosh Sariri, 24, of Santa Monica. A passenger in Sariri’s car, Jacob Salomi, 23, of Venice was also killed.

The driver of the Honda, Lucille Morgan, 25, of Westchester remains in a coma in extremely critical condition at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center.

Sariri has been charged with four counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and is being held in lieu of $2-million bail.

On Friday Baker and Cash were buried in ceremonies that gave voice to the grief--and anger--over what their friends feel was a senseless tragedy.

“We want to make a noise about this because we want to stop drinking and driving,” said Mia Kirk, 25, one of about 30 young people who have decided to turn their friends’ deaths into a campaign against drunk driving.

At the funerals Friday, friends described two young men who had a genius for making their companions feel special and a gift for working with children. Chris Baker was a teacher at the Neighborhood Nursery School in Westwood, where his young charges knew him as “Mr. Christopher.” At his funeral Sherri Carr, 25, recalled: “Friday night, the night before it happened, he said he had been to see his kids graduate from preschool. And he said he wanted to have kids of his own someday.”

A Mass of the Resurrection was held for Baker at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in West Los Angeles, where 300 mourners gathered. They included uniformed students from the church’s elementary school, where Baker was a coach. Tears ran down the faces of two nuns as they controlled the flow of children to the Communion rail during the service. Baker was also a longtime Little League manager.

“He was like a surrogate father for the kids, especially kids who didn’t have fathers, the ones from single-parent families,” said friend Cindy Brown, 30. Again and again, Baker was described as the beloved big brother of a group who played softball together and met regularly at the 2nd Street Bar and Grill in Santa Monica to hang out and sing karaoke.

“He was the glue between us all,” said Baker’s roommate, Adam Langsbard, 23. Baker, he said, disdained material things. But he was willing to spend money on the occasional trip with his friends to Las Vegas and for ballroom dancing lessons “to attract the ladies.”

One terrible irony of the accident, friends said, was that Baker was always scrupulous about making sure his friends were sober enough to drive. “He was always our key master,” said Hollis Fasbender, 24. “He made sure we never drove drunk.”

Donald Cash, father of victim Robert Cash, told how he would come home from work and find that son Robby and his friend Baker had invited a dozen youngsters over to watch a movie on the VCR. “You couldn’t ask for better kids,” said Cash, with tears in his eyes. “You couldn’t ask for better citizens.”

Leah Melber, 22, recalled what she had learned from Cash, with whom she had worked at the Santa Monica Family YMCA. “Rob taught me what to do when a 5-year-old asks you to marry him.”

Cash, who wanted to become a diplomat, had just graduated from the School of International Training in Brattleboro, Vt. The Rev. John Miller, pastor of Trinity Baptist, asked everyone in the congregation to do something in memory of him.

“I would like each person here to make a personal pledge never to drink and drive,” Miller said. The young men’s friends circulated petitions outside the churches asking that bail not be reduced for the man accused of killing the four. They want Santa Monica to institute a program to give rides to people too drunk to drive home.

Chris Baker’s mother, Elaine Baker of Santa Monica, said the ad hoc memorial at 14th Street and Wilshire Boulevard is a comfort to her. “I make pilgrimages there 20 times a day,” she said.