DENVER -- There were hugs and tears amid flickering candles Saturday night, as loved ones gathered to remember Breanna Boddy.
Boddy, 21, was killed in a head-on crash Monday night, on U.S. 34 near I-25, when a driver, heading the wrong way, slammed into her car.
“The family is just devastated,” said Breanna’s uncle, Felix Cruz. “We just can’t believe it happened. It’s been a horrible situation all the way around.”
Cruz said Breanna was a gentle soul.
“She loved children,” he said, “and she looked forward to having her own kids and starting a family.”
Family Matters Pastor, Barry Gammel, told the crowd that their participation in the candlelight vigil meant a lot to the family.
“As we light these candles,” he said, “if you have a word or a phrase, something that reminds you of Breanna or her family, do me a favor and just say it out loud, wherever you are.”
I can’t really throw out a better word than beautiful, I really can’t,” said Breanna’s boyfriend, Giano Fiore.
“She was so beautiful and she was so kind,” said Fiore’s mom, Lydia Fiore. “She just had so much love to give all the time. We’re going to miss her so much.”
Lydia Fiore told Denver7 that Breanna enjoyed student teaching and that working with kids was her passion.
“She was a very kind, loving, beautiful woman who just went too soon, for a senseless reason,” Cruz said.
Investigators said physical evidence indicates that Boddy braked and swerved to avoid the collision, but the pickup, driven by Mark Stults, 44, of Greeley still struck her. Stults also died in the crash.
Boddy was student teaching at Mapleton
Boddy was from Broomfield. She graduated from Legacy High School in 2013 and went to the University of Colorado Denver. She was studying elementary education and was student teaching in the Mapleton School District.
The school district’s superintendent, Charlotte Ciancio, told Denver7, “Many staff members in our Mapleton Schools community are mourning the loss of this beautiful young woman. Breanna was the daughter of a respected member of our nutrition services team and would often work with her mother, volunteering her time at different district events.”
Ciancio added, “It was our hope that one day soon she would choose to work in Mapleton; we are heartbroken for her family.”
A funeral service for Breanna Boddy will be held 10 a.m. Friday at Romero Family Funeral Home, 4750 Tejon Street in Denver. Burial will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
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