Students recall memories of Mayes

By Caitlin Nish

Daily Staff Reporter

LSA junior Christian Clouston remembers when he and Shannon Mayes went ice skating last week and she asked the employees working at the snack bar what she would have to do to be allowed to drive the Zamboni machine.

"She was ready to get a job there if she had to," Clouston said with a smile.

Clouston's memory was one of many shared by University students who gathered last night on the Diag to remember a girl they said they will never forget.

The vigil, organized by the Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity, of which Mayes was a member, came four days after the deaths of Mayes, 20, and her 14-year old sister Heather in a Saginaw Township car accident near their home.

Mayes, a University junior, and her sister were killed when a car driven by 20-year-old Christopher Sandoval struck the Mayes' van at 2:03 a.m. Sunday. Police said it appears Sandoval failed to stop at a flashing red light.

Shannon Mayes had just picked up her sister after Heather's high school Homecoming Dance.

More than 50 candles flickered in the darkness last night as one student spoke about Mayes and the reason went home last weekend.

"Friday night we were at the Brown Jug, and she was just so excited about going home to help her sister with getting ready for Homecoming," LSA junior Angela Clock said. "It's a wonderful memory but it's hard to swallow."

Last night's vigil followed Wednesday's funeral for Mayes and her sister in Saginaw. More than 2,000 people attended the service and 160 cars drove in a more than two-mile long funeral procession.

One of Mayes' roommates, LSA junior Alissa Zuellig, said each person at the funeral let go of a balloon at the burial site.

"It was like a release in a way. It was something special that Shannon would have really liked," Zuellig said.

Several students who attended the funeral also attended last night's vigil for a smaller and more intimate setting.

"We did this to allow people who knew her well, or not so well, to come together to share their memories," said Brian Judkins, an LSA junior who was Mayes' big sibling in Phi Alpha Delta. "She was an unbelievable person who the world is truly going to miss."

Another of Mayes' roommates, LSA junior Melanie Gerlach, held back tears as she spoke about her friend who had once offered to donate a kidney to a woman from her church who was in need of a donor.

Gerlach and others plan to paint the Rock on Sunday in Mayes' honor. "She had just come to school here and she always really wanted to do that, so she'd love it," Gerlach said.