2,000 Attend Service for Teen Killed in Crash

There were many tears but also some smiles Monday as more than 2,000 people gathered at an Irvine church to remember Kristin Godfrey, the 16-year-old Woodbridge High School student killed in a lunchtime car crash last week.

“This is an overwhelming show of support,” said Dan Rasmussen, an official of the city’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which set up live video feeds from the sanctuary to three other rooms to handle the crowd.

About 30 students wore hand-embroidered T-shirts honoring their friend with the slogan “It’s Not Easy Being a Princess Like Kristin.”

The teenager died Thursday when a van in which she was riding with three other students hydroplaned on rain-slick Alton Parkway and slammed into a concrete utility pole a few blocks from campus. The driver and two other passengers received minor injuries in the 12:30 p.m. crash. But Kristin was seated at the point of impact, directly behind the front passenger’s seat, and died at the scene.

Police said the student at the wheel was driving legally and was not exceeding the speed limit. All four students had their parents’ permission to leave campus for their 45-minute lunch break.

As Kristin’s friends took the podium to say their farewells, Doug Keoller drew laughter by describing the day they had met. “I remember thinking,” he recalled, “that this was one of the weirdest girls I’d ever met. I find it ironic now that the weirdness is the thing I fell in love with.”

Glenn White, a family friend, said Kristin “made a positive difference in my life. How truly joyful the inhabitants of heaven must be today.”