VCU student remembered by family, friends after fatal hiking accident
August 18, 2012
Friends and family mourned and celebrated a recently deceased Virginia Commonwealth University business major at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hampton on Tuesday.
Charles Couch
Staff Writer
Caitlin Kremp’s family, who could not be reached directly for comment, held a private memorial service for the 18-year-old business student who died Aug. 7 due to a hiking accident in southwest Colorado.
“Thank you everyone who came to support my family yesterday at Caitlin Kremp’s service,” Kremp’s sister, April Hafer, posted Aug. 15 on Facebook. “It was all so beautiful and our family is truly blessed to have as much support as we do.”
Kremp and eight other students were in Colorado on a four-day trip sponsored through VCU’s Outdoor Adventure Program, according to university officials. She fell roughly 200 feet from a rock outcrop and died instantly, according to a press release from authorities in La Plata County, Colorado.
Kremp was a student worker in the program, VCU officials said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends at this difficult time,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverly J. Warren in an official statement released Aug. 8 by the university.
VCU is providing grief counseling to the other students on the trip, as well as on campus for Kremp’s friends and associates, according to the statement.
Kremp’s family opened a scholarship fund under her name at VCU, Hafer said on Facebook.
“With the scholarship at VCU we hope to make Caitlin’s name live on forever because everyone should have the same amazing opportunities to love life and experience it to the fullest like she did.”
VCU’s Outdoor Adventure Program continues to operate on its regular schedule of activities, said Anne Buckley, the university’s director of public affairs.
