As we grow up we make all sorts of friends.
The boy you used to play patty-cake with in preschool. The little girl who shared her Lunchables with you in third grade. Your middle school posse that gathered to dish about first kisses. And the faces you searched for in the crowd as you accepted your high school diploma.
But then there are the friendships made in college.
Those friendships go beyond pre-k games or crackers and cheese, beyond kisses (though that topic is discussed at length) and graduation. Friends made in college become family and as a family you map out your futures.
Over the summer, a tragedy stole a member of my Guilford family.
Caitlin Christine Lee, 20, died in a car accident on July 27, following a fun-filled weekend at King’s Island amusement park with friends Jackson Harris and Caitlin Currey, and her boyfriend, Ryan Williams.
My plans for the future instantly changed.
We weren’t going shopping for hideous lime green bridesmaid dresses to wear to the Laser Quest wedding we’d often joked about. We weren’t talking about how Auntie Cathead would be my kids’ favorite relative. And we weren’t looking into reservations for our mid-life “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” Caribbean cruises.
Without her, the future seems too foreign and far away now. So I’ve spent the last few weeks reflecting on my memories of her: the way she’d laugh until she’d cry, her dancing with one hand in the air, and how her face would light up when Ryan would call.
On Sept. 2 and 3 the reflection and celebration the life of Caitlin Lee went beyond her inner circle of friends as the Guilford community gathered as a whole to memorialize her.
Over 30 candles sparkled in front of Founder’s Hall as students and staff gathered on the night of the 2nd with Lee’s parents, Ron and Rebecca Lee, for a candlelight vigil.
The following day, the Moon Room was filled with both laughter and tears as the community met in worship to share their memories and love of Lee.
Assorted quotes from “Guilford College’s Celebration of the Life of Caitlin Christine Lee,” Moon Room Sept. 3
Jeff Jeske, Dana Professor of English, “Speaking for the English Department, I just want to say that Cathead will always be a member of our tribe.”
Tiffany Lowery, senior, “She was an amazing person. I kinda feel like we grew up together; we created our own family and this is our home. And we went through figuring out what we wanted to major in together. We went through being homesick together the first year and a lot of other things. She was like a sister.”
Marshall Jeffries, senior, “I don’t remember at all a transitional period between learning who she was and her becoming my friend. It was like all of the sudden we were really good friends; that’s just how she was, she never made anyone feel left out.”
Emily Ferris, senior, “We went to Pathways together every week . The last time we went . it was a celebration of the semester and we were just playing outside with all of the children. Caitlin and I were playing with Knowledge (a two-year-old student) and Micha, a four-year-old, with some chalk and playing with the ball. Sometimes I feel like when you’re in college you forget how to play and she didn’t. She was so good at it.”
Martha Assefa, senior, “I think her beauty was so much inside that it radiated through her. You couldn’t just see the outside of her, you had to see in her when you saw her.”
Kylie Gilliams, junior, “She was such a great person, you could have fun with her doing anything – watching trashy TV or just hanging out.”
Rebecca Lee, Caitlin’s mother, “Going to Guilford was her choice . I said ‘Why don’t you go hang out with the Quakers,’ and she took me up on it. She really blossomed here.”