Shortly after third-year College student Jon Huang heard about the death of his friend and fellow Virginia Alpine Ski and Snowboard Team member Brian Love, he sat down to write. Huang wrote about Love, to remember him and to organize the many thoughts that swirled in his head following Love's fatal snowboarding accident last week. In the page-long reflection Huang produced and later sent to members of VASST and others he knew that were close to Love, he mentioned the qualities that made Love so unique.
Huang wrote, "...perhaps what amazed me most was [Love's] appreciation of what human beings...people...friends had to offer. His easy smiles made clear his appreciation of long conversations, short chats, jokes, quotes, photos, artwork, textbooks, lecture, terrible movies, everything. We made fun of him for his taste in mopey music but we never got it. He knew, I think, that it made no difference what was being said but that it was incredible merely that we had found so many ways to speak. That we are able to cry and laugh, sing, chant, scream and whisper is a phenomenon of itself."
Now, in the days following Love's death, his friends are finding ways to speak, both about Love and, in a way, to him. Through a vigil, a painted bridge, a ski race and a memorial service, among other things, those whom Love left behind remember him with the same tears and laughter, chants, screams and whispers Love appreciated so much while he was alive.
After hearing news of Love's death, fourth-year College student Sean Scanlin immediately knew what he needed to do to speak about Love's death and sprung into action.
A former friend and Hereford hallmate of Love, Scanlin felt the pressing need to reach out to the close-knit group of men that had lived together in the Johnson dormitory with Love just a year ago.
"I felt something had to be done for that group of guys because [I knew they] would be affected by it pretty hard," Scanlin said.
Through e-mail, Scanlin helped organize a candlelight vigil the night of Feb. 2, under the stars high atop O-Hill, outside Hereford dorms.
After lining the field outside Johnson Dormitory with candles, Scanlin said he was heading back to the vigil site when he first saw the group of about 200 students gathered for the event.Scanlin said he was amazed by the vigil's attendance.
"My favorite moment was walking back up the hill after lighting all the candles and just being surprised and thinking, 'I didn't tell many people, but look at all these kids,'" Scanlin said. "It was something that was visual, tangible."
The vigil consisted of a loosely structured ceremony featuring a circle of attendees with candles surrounding one large lit candle -- Brian's candle. Some who attended the vigil chose to remember in silence. Others chose to speak a few words about Love or share a funny story.
"Everyone started telling stories," Scanlin said. The stories "showed all the different sides [Brian] showed to people, but yet it brought all those sides together, and it brought all the different people together in a way that embodied Brian himself."
Huang was one of the many different people who attended the candlelight vigil. For him, seeing so many people who were also dealing with the loss of Love was powerful and comforting.
"I think it was great getting everybody together and just seeing that there were so many people that could lend support, knowing that there were others sharing the same experience," he said. "They, more than anybody else probably, will know what you are going through."
A ski race held last Saturday, hereafter to be called the Brian Love Memorial Race, also served as a setting for those who knew Love to remember and celebrate him together. Racers and other members of VASST, as well as other collegiate ski and snowboard teams, were joined by Love's father and sister, who flew in from California for the weekend. Sun shone down upon those who attended the race at Wintergreen, many of whom donned stickers printed by Wintergreen that read, "In Memory of B.L."
Love's father and sister participated in the race by acting as the "front runners" and taking the first run down the slope and through the gates of the racecourse.
Huang, who attended the race, said he felt it was "incredible that [Love's] father and sister were there, and that they participated." Snowboarding was "a sport they shared [with Love], something they did together," he said.
Alexis Day, fourth-year College student and VAAST member, raced down the slopes last Saturday and took part in the special moments of the day dedicated to Love's memory. Before the gun went off for the day's first racing event, members of VAAST gathered with Love's father and sister, Day said. She suggested that the group give a team cheer prior to breaking up and heading to the starting gates. At that moment, she said, everyone got together and shouted, "One
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