LYNNWOOD — A baby with wispy brown hair leans forward, trying to crawl.
A toddler wearing a pumpkin costume and a spiky orange wig prances excitedly on Halloween, her birthday.
A girl with a mischievous grin and long brown hair leans over and hugs her mom during a summer camping trip.
A photo of this same girl — now a high school student with eye makeup, still smiling — sat on the altar Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church.
The family and friends she usually coaxed smiles from sat in the pews, crying.
Janelle Cooper, known to the many who loved her as Choubiiee and Nelly-Belly, died on May 23 as she walked along a sidewalk in Lynnwood shortly before midnight. A truck jumped the curb and smashed into her and a friend. That girl, a sophomore at Mountlake Terrace High School, was hospitalized.
Janelle, 16, died alongside 164th Street SW.
The accident is still under investigation. No one has been arrested.
Carrying roses and tissues, hundreds packed a memorial service for the Lynnwood girl. Nearly every seat was taken. A few teens leaned against the walls at the back of the church, tears running down their faces.
Her family held onto each other for support: her mom and shopping companion, Coleen Cooper; her dad and boating buddy, Gary Cooper, who lives in West Covina, Calif; her 19-year-old brother, Joshua Cooper, whom she adored despite his teasing; and friends who considered themselves family, who called Janelle “Mom” because of her encouraging, protective ways.
Nearly two-thirds of Janelle’s classmates from Scriber Lake Alternative High School in Mountlake Terrace attended the service, student Alaina Hunter said.
“She always knew how to make everybody smile,” friend Will Gross, 17, said, as he gathered with other teens outside the church. “She was always smiling — always. Even when she was mad, she’d be smiling. It was contagious.”
“It was like the sun,” added 17-year-old Tameaka Draper.
Draper held a pile of T-shirts she designed in Janelle’s memory. Red letters spelled out “RIP OhkaChoubiiee.”
During the service, pastor Mark Reitan lit Janelle’s long, white baptismal candle — one final time.
“Janelle’s death was so tragic,” he said. “It was so senseless. I mean you just walk along the sidewalk and — wham — relationships and family and friendships broke. A life taken away from us.”
He recalled visiting the site where Janelle died, reading the dozens of farewell messages friends scribbled on the concrete overpass in mourning. He described the large white cross Janelle’s father and brother made and placed there to symbolize God’s promise for Janelle.
He talked about Coleen Cooper’s first visit to the site — soon after her daughter’s death.
“She could still see the blood that was on the pavement,” the pastor said. “Janelle’s mom took off her shoes, so her bare feet could be in contact with Janelle. She wanted that blood to soak up out of that sidewalk and into her body. That was her own flesh and blood.”
After the service, mourners lingered, looking at snapshots of Janelle’s life and sharing stories.
Her grandma, Pat Quaney, remembered Janelle’s smile and upbeat personality.
“She never held a grudge,” the Tri-Cities woman said. “I might argue with her. You might be upset. A little bit later she was ready for the next round of joy or whatever it was.”
Navarre Kerr, 16, recalled his first meeting with Janelle. It was at a Mountlake Terrace High School football game. Their friendship began when she spiked his hair and painted his face red, black and white, the school colors.
“She never let anything bad happen to the ones she held close,” he said.
Navarre held an empty peanut butter jar he’d turned into a vase and filled with flowers from his garden for Janelle.
Coleen Cooper invited her daughter’s friends to complete an art project her daughter had started — a stained-glass window style cross that needed to be colored in.
One-by-one, teens took colorful markers to finish what their friend had started.
“This is for you, Janelle,” Will Gross said, coloring a fragment of the cross green. “This one’s for you.”
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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