By Vanessa Ybarra

Memorial bench for fatal hit-and-run victim hoped to be built by spring

Feb 11, 2017 | 9:18 AM

KAMLOOPS — The sudden and unexpected death of 16-year-old Kamloops girl Jennifer Gatey last November came as a terrible shock to everyone in the community.

Gatey, a student at South Kamloops Secondary School, was waiting for the bus just 30 meters from her Aberdeen home, when a passing vehicle struck and instantly killer her on the eve of her 17th birthday.

The person responsible for Gatey’s death has never come forward.

Teddy bears and flowers remain at the Pacific Way bus stop where Gatey was killed November 4th.

Now, a  bench is hoped to be added to the road-side memorial.

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“I thought having the bench is not only a good way to remember her by but it’s also a safety precaution so people aren’t sitting on the curb while waiting for the bus and the same thing happens to them,” said Kennedy Michels, who lived on the same street as Gatey.

The grade seven Pacific Way Elementary School student was inspired to build a bench after hearing her teacher’s warm memories of Gatey.

“Kennedy approached me a couple of weeks ago, knowing our story and the past of how Jennifer used to go to the school,” said Pacific Way Elementary School teacher Shelley Wiwchar. “She wanted something to do so that we could remember her by all the time.”

Little did Michels know, Rachel McMillan, whose son attended South Kamloops Secondary School with Gatey, had already started a GoFundMe campaign to add a bench to the memorial site.

“It could’ve been any one of my kids and we just came up with the idea that it would be a really nice gesture to the family,” said McMillan.

The two are now working together to collect the $3,000 required by the City of Kamloops and BC Transit to install the bench.

So far, close to $1,000 has been donated by the community, with numerous fundraisers scheduled in the coming months.

As for the case, surveillance video led Kamloops RCMP to question the owner of a jeep a few days after Gatey’s death, but no arrests have been made.

“We have a team of investigators from our serious crime unit that work on this investigation every single day,” said Jody Neuls with the Kamloops RCMP. ‘”The specific details of the investigation I can’t comment on at this time.”

For now, the focus remains on keeping Gatey’s memory alive.

The hope is with enough money, the bench will be built this spring, with a similar one planned for Pacific Way Elementary, two public and powerful tributes for a life taken too soon.

“I’m so excited and I’m so proud of Kennedy for her thoughtfulness, for somebody to have such a big heart, it’s amazing,” said McMillan.

“The flowers they’re eventually going to die, the candles won’t burn forever,” said Michels. “A bench is a permanent way to remember Jennifer by.”

To donate to the Go Fund Me account, click here.