A “gentle soul” and a statuesque beauty who was as comfortable in high heels as in baseball cleats.
A girl who put family first, and sports second, leaving behind softball scholarships to U.S. colleges to stay close to her family.
That was how friends and family of Surrey student Kassandra Marie Kaulius – or “K” to those close to her – remembered her Thursday, at a memorial in Langley.
Kaulius died when her car was hit by an alleged drunk driver on May 3. She was driving home after an evening spent playing with her Surrey Storm fastpitch senior ladies’ A team and coaching a team of teen girls at Cloverdale Athletic Park.
At least 500 people attended the service at the Christian Life Assembly Thursday afternoon for the 22-year-old University of the Fraser Valley student and talented rep A softball player.
A unit of police and RCMP officers in full dress uniform escorted the family into the service. Each family member placed a pink rose on the altar in her memory, alongside symbols of her brief life: a white teddy bear, a pair of high heels, a baseball glove and ball and the No. 15 softball jersey she wore so proudly.
Her mother, Markita, spoke frankly about the impact of her daughter’s tragic death. “Our family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers,” she said. “People ask how we are doing and we say we’re fine. But we are not fine. Our world has fallen apart.
“This has affected our entire community . . . We should all be outraged and we should speak up . . . speak forKassandra and all others who no longer have a voice,” her mother said, asking those gathered to take a zero-tolerance approach to drinking and driving.
“I thought the next speech I would write would be for her wedding, not her funeral,” said her older sister, Miranda Tracy. “The loss I feel is truly unexplainable. I lost my sister, my children lost their aunt and I lost my best friend.”
Kaulius’s longtime boyfriend, Cody Schlamb, 25, said he had “lost the best part of my life.”
“You touched my life in so many ways. You brought so much joy,” he said of his girlfriend of six years. “I feel honoured to have been loved by you.”
Her family said sports were Kaulius’s passion and she played many: basketball, volleyball, swimming and skiing throughout her school years. But she lived to play baseball, which she started at five years old.
Her coach, Rob Upton, said that he had received messages of condolence from teams and coaches across the country.
“She was the ultimate definition of a team player,” he said “No. 15 will never be replaced. She will be on the field with us every game . . . She was a true champion and we will miss her dearly.”
Kaulius’s softball team attended, wearing their jerseys in support of her love for the game.
Kaulius’s fastball league has set up an account to provide for a scholarship fund in Kaulius’s name. Donations can be made to the Kassandra Kaulius Surrey Storm Scholarship Fund at any Coast Capital Credit Union branch in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
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