Dozens of mourners gathered at Bowness high school yesterday, the site of a growing memorial for a pair of teenagers killed in a car crash Sunday on the return leg of a graduation road trip to California.
Cards, flowers, candles and stuffed animals are piled near the front entrance to the school while handwritten messages of condolence are scrawled in chalk on the sidewalks, doors and walls of the building.
Kylie Doxtater, 18, and Mikelle Hendrickson, 18, were killed when the Honda CRV they were riding in left the road and down a ravine near Olympia, Wa.
Ben Harms, 18 -- the driver -- and Lena Elliott, 18, were seriously injured and remain in hospital in Washington State.
Harms was arrested at the scene and charged with vehicular assault and suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs.
"I will remember you forever, keep smiling," read one chalk message, and "by remembering you internally, you live eternally," read another.
A giant heart was drawn on the school's front door while next to it, someone wrote "death leave a heartache no-one can heal, love leaves a memory no-one can steal."
At one point, more than two dozen people had gathered around the makeshift memorial.
Many hugged each other.
Most were crying.
A co-worker of Hendrickson at Busy Beavers Daycare, Cheryl Youngs said she was touched to see the outpouring of support.
"It's so sad but I'm happy to see this," she said.
"It's good to know the different thoughts everyone had about her. She had a great personality and was so good with the kids.
"She touched a lot of people."
