PLU senior’s love for her friends and dreams of teaching

Sarah Kehoe

Mast LuteLife Reporter

PLU lost senior Jocelyn Denham from Bend, Oregon in a tragic accident that occurred late Friday afternoon near Brewster in Okanogan County, leaving behind eight roommates, other friends, family and mentors.

Denham was just three weeks from completing her capstone project for her history major and graduating May 25, 2008.

 “Jocelyn was friendly, relaxed with no pretenses. She was comfortable sharing her feelings with people,” said mentor and professor of history, Beth Kraig. “She was not the kind of person who tried to impress people in a superficial way; she was simply herself.”
Bright, blue-eyed, and brown haired, Denham met her boyfriend junior Brady Freeman and developed a love for children and education while she worked at the Boys and Girls club from 2005-2008.

Denham was recently accepted into PLU’s masters program for education where she hoped to receive the tools she needed to teach history to children in a way that helped them connect to their own identify and would inspire them, Kraig said.

“Her dedication to serving her community was her highest priority and going into the field of education became her true calling,” her roommates wrote to the News Tribune April 27, 2008.

Denham didn’t allow herself to be caught up with competition, awards or future thoughts that plague so many college students on a day-to-day basis, but really focused on what she was learning, Kraig said.

“She had a very balanced personality and was really focused on living life for what she was doing that day,” Kraig said. “She was totally alive to being what she was, when she was it.”

“Jocelyn worked hard to pay for all of her finances and tuition at PLU, including a semester in Paris, France, in the spring of 2007. Jocelyn loved to travel and visited many countries in Europe, meeting new friends and touching peoples’ lives everywhere,” her roommates said to the News Tribune.

Disappointed by past news coverage of Denham, Kraig urges students to remember the beautiful person that Jocelyn was and the life she led rather than her tragedy. 

 “Her strengths were that she was a very open and intriguing person,” Kraig said. “She was very interested in human beings and what makes them tick.”