“Nobody is going to wear number 23 for a while,” Sarah Testo, Keene State women’s soccer head coach said.
In front of the Mabel Brown Room stage stood two photo collages of first-year student Kelsey Mayer. The Keene State community filled the room and its mezzanine to capacity and then some.
The memorial for Mayer, held on Thursday, March 30, was led by the KSC women’s soccer team. Sophomore Allison Yanski, the other student involved in the accident, opened the memorial with memories of her best friend.
Yanski shared the story about how they had first met at Taekwondo practice.
“Eleven years of being best friends and we did everything together. We worked at the dog kennel together, played soccer for so many years and we went to the same college together,” Yanski said. “She was the sweetest soul to step on earth.”
Other members of the women’s soccer team spoke at the remembrance event, sharing their favorite memories of Mayer.
One teammate recalled a time they had been eating breakfast at Lindy’s Diner in Keene. Yanski had ordered a chocolate milkshake; Mayer made a joke, causing Yanski to shoot the milkshake out of her nose and all over the table.
“Kelsey, your laugh was perfect, contagious and just made everyone around you smile,” the teammate said.
Another teammate shared that Mayer would always be part of her six-person suite with some other members of the team. She said she was always excited to come back to the suite to see Mayer there hanging out with everyone, making jokes or playing Mario Kart.
“Because of you, Kelsey, it was a suite for seven,” the student said. “I can not remember how many times they left [the TV] on and I just slept to the Mario Kart sounds.”
She added that Mayer was very motivational in the gym and encouraged others to better themselves there.
Another teammate remarked about how caring Mayer was. She shared that Mayer would always ask her if she was OK and if she needed anything. “To know that someone like you cared so much made me feel so much better, I will forever miss that,” she said.
After many of Mayer’s soccer teammates spoke, Testo shared some words about Mayer.
Testo recalled how Mayer came to be part of the team through walk-on tryouts.
“She was one of the first walk-ons to make the team in over 20 years,” Testo said, adding that she herself was a player the last time someone made the team as a walk-on.
Testo said the team had taken some time off from practice following Mayer’s death. While discussing with the team when to return, she asked, “What would Mayer want?”
They all decided Mayer would want them to keep practicing, so they went back to it.
Also in attendance were members of Yanski’s family, including her older sister Heather, who said she remembers Mayer when she was only five years old.
Heather Yanski said that Mayer would never be forgotten, and her twin boys will always know who she was. “Hopefully she’s with us today and smiling down at all of us,” she said.
Yanski’s father, Alan, spoke as well. He shared that the Mayer and Yanski families “have been together for a very long time.”
“Ever since day one, they’ve been two peas in a pod,” he said.
Yanski’s other older sister Jessica spoke as well, highlighting Mayer’s presence and bright personality. “She could be in a bad mood and still light up the room,” she said.
“She was the most amazing human and best friend any older sister could wish for their younger sister,” she added.
At the end of the memorial, the juniors on the women’s soccer team spoke and thanked everyone for their support as they try to navigate the loss of Mayer.
“We all ask that you hold close the ones that you love with every precious moment to the fullest extent because no tomorrow is promised,” a teammate said.
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
“She was the sweetest soul to step on earth,”
ALLISON YANSKI
KSC SOPHOMORE
