Mourners remember trio at candlelight vigil

The three teenagers killed in a rural Kings County crash were remembered in a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening. As the afternoon gave way to a brilliant dusk, a sea of subdued, somber faces gathered before a canal south of Armona, where the three had been tragically killed the night before.

A fresh skid mark leading to the canal was a vivid reminder of the accident which took the lives of recent Hanford West High School graduates at the notorious sharp bend on Jersey Avenue near 13th Avenue.

Tears flowed. Embraces lingered.

As a melancholy chorus of "Amazing Grace" resounded, gusts grew stronger.

But nothing awakened lugubrious emotions more acutely than the agonized wailing of classmates, friend and family members of Cory Kennedy, Carlos Sigala and Jesus Rios.

The sheer number of people seen at the vigil was a testimony to just how many lives they have touched and how indelible a mark they made in the community during the 17 short years of their lives. More than 200 people gathered near the crash site to embrace one another as they spoke fondly of the three recent graduates.

Like ripples on the canal waters stirred by the winds, the crowd formed a tight circle at the accident site praying, embracing one another and wiping away tears. Many of the mourners were with the Hanford West Huskies Band, of which Sigala and Rios were members.

"They were always happy. They were always working hard for everybody else. They cared for others more than themselves," Lisa Butts, band director, said while fighting back tears.

Elizabeth Cameron, choir director at Hanford West, said, "They walk into a room, and it would be a better place because they got there. They were great kids."

Rios was a drum major who had just won numerous first-place prizes at competitions throughout the state, including ones in Pismo Beach, Selma and Hanford, while Sigala played the saxophone and the clarinet.

Many said they found it hard to accept the reality of their friends' deaths.

"It just hasn't hit me yet," said Gabriel Rascon, a recent Hanford High School graduate who knew Rios and Kennedy since they were 12. "I can't help but feel like they are just out of town somewhere ... In school, everybody's like a family, and that's what I was with them. I can't believe they are gone."

Kellie Brenna, a Park View Middle School teacher who taught Kennedy when she was in seventh grade, was among the crowd of teary faces.

Brenna described Kennedy as an "impressive" young woman.

"She was just the kind of student who had her act together. She stood a little bit above other kids," Brenna recalled.

Kennedy was a recent recipient of a $500 scholarship from the Armona Teachers Association.

"When I saw her application for the scholarship, I said, 'We're giving it to her.' And nobody argued with me," Brenna said. "She was my favorite."

Kennedy was a favorite among many people.

"She was full of energy. She was just full of life," said Karen Adame, a junior at Hanford West. "She's so outgoing. She can be crazy. She loves to talk a lot. She can have a conversation about anything with anybody. She was the best."

With scholarships from GWF, NAACP, Sunset Kiwanis and Ruiz Foods and the Armona Teachers Association, Kennedy was scheduled to attend California State University, Fresno starting this summer with a full ride to the Summer Bridge program, said Donna Clemens, Kennedy's mother. Kennedy was Clemens' only daughter.

"They were loved by so many people," Clemens said. "The irony is, they should've known how much they were loved, but they are not here."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(June 11, 2008)