by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
About 100 people, most of them members of the Air Force ROTC at UNM, attended a memorial for student Jeanette Garcia on Wednesday.
Garcia died Dec. 17 when she lost control of her vehicle on I-40 near Grants, said New Mexico State Police Sgt. Richard Doty. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, he said.
Garcia, 18, was an active member of the Air Force ROTC at UNM.
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Garcia had the makings of a successful Air Force officer, said Air Force Lt. Col. Gregory Tuite, who spoke at the Alumni Memorial Chapel.
"Cadet Garcia was one real special cadet," he said. "She was going to succeed. She wanted to be an Air Force officer, and she was going to succeed."
The memorial was held in the Alumni Memorial Chapel on campus.
Garcia set high goals for herself and worked hard to complete them, said David Bracker, a close friend of Garcia.
"I remember when she was training for her physical fitness test, and she was striving to be one of the fastest females in the run," he said. "She came pretty close. But the look on her face as soon as she crossed the finish line, beating the male's time - it was just one of joy, knowing that she met her goal, and beat it."
Besides being self-motivated, Garcia helped motivate those around her, Bracker said.
"That was one thing about Jeanette that nobody could ever pass up," he said. "Whenever they met her, she always asked them what they were going to do in life. If we started changing our minds, she'd go after us and say, 'stick with it.'"
Crystal Winfield, another close friend of Garcia, agreed with Bracker.
She recalled Garcia helping her with a physical fitness test for ROTC.
"I wasn't a very good runner, so she tracked me down and started running with me and kept getting me out at night," she said. "She'd knock on my door and say, 'Let's go running.'"
Winfield said Garcia was outgoing.
"She knew everybody here, and was real chatty and talked with people all the time," she said. "She was super friendly."
The memorial included a Color Guard folding and presentation of a flag, a military tradition. ROTC member James Olaveson played taps at the end of the ceremony.
Garcia would have liked the military style of the memorial, Winfield said.
"I think she would have liked it a lot," she said. "I think she would have been really happy that it was all military and everything because that was really her thing. She was really into it."
Winfield said Garcia would not want her friends to become depressed because of her death.
"Probably she'd smack everybody silly if she knew we were getting all upset," she said. "She was the kind of person who wouldn't put up with people being upset about stuff like that. She'd rather us all be happy, and laugh when we remember her - remember all the fun things we did together."
