Below is the article that appeared today in the Orange County Register… A teacher, a friend
Community remembers Christy Kirkwood, a middle school instructor who died after a biking accident.
By SUSAN J. PARK and FERMIN LEAL THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
When Christy Kirkwood led a bike ride through the trails of Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, members of the Trail Angels bike club knew they were in for a tough workout.
“If you started whining, she would pull out a pacifier and stick it in your mouth and say, ‘no whining,’ ” said Jody Marcon, a rider with the group. “She was always saying, ‘you can do this.’ ”
In the same way Kirkwood, 51, pushed her fellow riders – sometimes 20 years her junior – she would motivate her science students at Bell Intermediate in Garden Grove.
“She knew that life was so precious and that we only have so much time here,” Chris Kirkwood, her husband, said. “She didn’t want to waste any of it.”
Christy Kirkwood was on a 13-mile mountain- biking trip Tuesday night when she was struck by a car. The Fountain Valley resident was pronounced dead at 12:55 p.m. Wednesday, following an organ donation that will extend the lives of three other people, her husband said.
Authorities said a car apparently veered off the road and slammed into Kirkwood as she and another club member rode along Santiago Canyon Road on their way to Modjeska Canyon.
The driver, who stopped at the scene, wasn’t immediately cited, and the incident is still under investigation, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.
Kirkwood, who came from a family of teachers, started at Bell in 1990 as a physical education teacher, but switched to science. She was happy with the challenge of bringing comprehension to the easily bored minds of middle-schoolers, Chris Kirkwood said.
On Thursday, students and teachers at Bell constructed a makeshift memorial at the base of the school’s marquee with the flowers and cards that poured in after the tragic news broke.
“This has been very difficult for everyone who was lucky enough to know Christy,” fellow teacher Cindy Besst said. “We are not only mourning a great teacher, but also a great person and friend.”
Administrators brought in grief counselors, and Principal Lorraine Rae mounted large sheets of blank construction paper on walls across the campus so students could write notes to the Kirkwood family.
“She made learning fun,” said longtime friend and shop teacher Bill Bishop. “There is such a big gap in all our lives right now.”
Many of her colleagues and students also stopped by Kirkwood’s science classroom Thursday for a final tour. They smiled at the Lance Armstrong autographed poster, and laughed at the skeleton wearing an In-N-Out Burger cap – Kirkwood’s jab at the “evils of fast food.”
Teachers are planning a memorial at Bell for next week and also hope to start a scholarship in Kirkwood’s honor.
The 5-foot-7-inch, 125-pound Kirkwood kept fit by biking, running, skiing and consuming V8 vegetable drinks, said her son, 20-year-old Corey Kirkwood. But she wasn’t against enjoying a good steak, especially if grilled by her husband.
She was an active member of Trail Angels, a Christian, female mountain-biking group. The group made the news in late 2003 when member Anne Hjelle was attacked by a mountain lion in Whiting Ranch park.
Club members described Kirkwood as one of the safest bikers in the group. Her bike was fully equipped with headlights and flashers for night riding, Marcon said.
The group plans to have a memorial ride for Kirkwood today at 9 a.m.
“She left this world doing what she loved to do,” Jacke Van Woerkom, Trail Angels director, said.
Kirkwood was also a longdistance runner. She ran six marathons, three with her husband of 24 years. They golfed, skied and rode motorcycles throughout the West Coast.
“We just did everything together,” Chris Kirkwood said. “I think she pursued me and thought I was the one for her.”
She was also a torchbearer for a 5-mile leg of the 1980 Olympics in Utah.
Yet she didn’t just help deliver the flames, she forged friendships.
“Every year she still gets Christmas cards from the people she ran with in the Olympics,” her husband said.
When she wasn’t winning over students, riders or runners, Kirkwood was reading or watching “The Daily Show,” her husband said.
Vacations weren’t for relaxing. The family spent weeks skiing the Rockies every year.
“She loved the mountains so much,” Chris Kirkwood said. “We’re going to spread her ashes in the mountains … and offer her to the wind.”
Register staff writer Kimberly Edds contributed to this report.
CONTACT THE WRITER:
7 1 4-445-6604 or spark8@ocregister.com
**GRIEVING: **Olivia Bowen, left, and Tally Miro, both 1 3, gaze at the memorial for Christy Kirkwood.
**TRIBUTES TO CHRISTY: **Bell Intermediate students gather around a memorial for their teacher, Christy Kirkwood. The science instructor died Thursday, a day after being struck by a car during a twilight bike ride on Santiago Canyon Road.
**IN MEMORY: **Fresh flowers and a small Christmas tree mark the area along Santiago Canyon Road where bicyclist Christy Kirkwood, 51, was killed after being hit by a vehicle Tuesday night.
