BRECKENRIDGE - Smiling, smiling, smiling - and goofing off. That's how friends of Lindsay Malkiewicz said they will remember her at a service celebrating her life Wednesday afternoon at the Salt Creek Saloon in Breckenridge.

Lindsay was one of three - the others were Michael Winepol and Sean Travis - killed in a car wreck last Friday in Vermont while en route to a Phish concert. A service commemorating the lives of those three and two other friends who died recently will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Carter Park Sunday.

Photographs of Malkiewicz filled the walls of the saloon as a standing room-only crowd filled the nooks and crannies within to listen to friends tell stories and watch a slide show of Malkiewicz's life.

"We lost some good folks," someone wrote on a piece of paper affixed to the wall. "Folks who had a lot more life in them. Folks who made the world a better place just because they existed."

If the tears that flowed and the hugs that squeezed were any indication, Malkiewicz was one of them.

"I think of Lindsay. She was fun. She was a blast," said her roommate Laura Turner. "Everyone was blessed by her. I'll remember her smile, her fat little belly, her eyes when she got really mad and her hands were flailing. I'll remember her heart and how big it was. I never met anyone who had the capacity for love like she did."

Other adjectives used to describe the 25-year-old included accepting, confident, comprehending, kind, true, hilarious, secure and truly living.

A former boyfriend said he remembered a wedding at which Lindsay was dancing - and was caught on tape. Other friends said she brought much joy into their lives, which she changed through her positive energy.

Malkiewicz's brother, Nick, described his little sister as a ray of sunshine.

"She wouldn't want us to be sitting around here crying," he said. "She'll always be with us. I can't wait to be reunited for one more tickle match or one more wrestling match. Until then, she'll be looking over us with her tender rays of sunshine."

Others spoke of adventures to the ocean, Mesa Verde, swimming, horseback riding and skiing.

"If there's anyone here who never had the chance to meet Lindsay, you really missed something," said her aunt Judy Malkiewicz.

To the tunes of 'My Girl' and 'Brown-Eyed Girl,' a slide show depicted Malkiewicz as a little girl. The tunes changed as she grew older, to Gwen Stefani of No Doubt and Modest Mouse. The little girl grew into a woman, but always smiling and always with her friends, be it for Mardi Gras, informal parties or Phish shows.

"That concert is still going on," her father, Jeff, said. "Those people are still up there, stuck in the mud. That's how I got up there to bring her home. This is her home."

More than 600 people attended Winepol's funeral on Monday in North Carolina, according to friend Carole Kaplan.



Jane Stebbins can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 288, or at jstebbins@summitdaily.com.