GLENDALE : Family, Friends Bury Student Killed in Crash

The room David Gevorkyan shared with his sister Lana in their Glendale home is filled with model airplanes, which she said he could assemble in a matter of minutes.

“He’s really fast at it,” Lana Gevorkyan, 13, said Monday, still speaking of her brother in the present tense as she watched his burial.

David was one of two Crescenta Valley High School students killed Nov. 28 when their car skidded off Angeles Crest Highway and fell 500 feet down a mountainside. On Monday, more than 200 students, relatives and friends mourned as David was buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.

“We know David’s love for the ROTC, we know his love for flying airplanes,” said Ken Biermann, principal of Crescenta Valley High, to the mourners.

“He is now up there with the angels, flying over all of us.”

Some students wore T-shirts bearing the words “In memory of David, Sevag”--referring to Sevag Cholakian, 15, who was buried Friday. Three other students are recovering from their injuries, Biermann said.

The car’s driver, Malineh Martussian, 19, had been unconscious and in critical condition all last week, but was sent home in good condition Sunday afternoon from County-USC Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The students were skipping school to celebrate two birthdays when their car skidded over the side of the road near the Mt. Wilson turnoff. CHP officers said the car was apparently going slower than the speed limit. Nonetheless, the priest who led the Armenian language service and Principal Biermann both reminded students to be responsible.

“Recognize what we face when we lose loved ones,” Biermann said. “Please know how important it is to be on earth with us.”

One of David’s friends, a 14-year-old freshman who did not want her name used, said she thought it was important for students to be reminded to be careful, but added: “I don’t think they should bring it up now.”

As for David, she said, “He was loved by everybody. He had dreams to be a pilot. He was never mean. He would always tell jokes, he would make people laugh. And he was a good friend. He would risk his life for you.”