Services are scheduled in Topeka and Lawrence to honor a Kansas University student murdered in Costa Rica.
Family and friends will remember Shannon Martin, 23, at a Friday morning ceremony at Countryside United Methodist Church in Topeka. Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home, Topeka, is in charge of arrangements, and burial will be at Highland Cemetery in Ottawa.
The exact time of the Friday morning service is pending, a church official said Tuesday.
A second service will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. A potluck dinner and service will be held to “celebrate and remember her life,” said Thad Holcombe, ECM campus minister.
“It was amazing how many people she knew and affected,” Holcombe said. “She wasn’t a loud extrovert, but she was extremely involved in the community.”
Martin was involved in the leadership at ECM and initiated the veggie lunch, a vegetarian meal served each Thursday to KU students and faculty, Holcombe said.
The ECM dinner and service is open to anyone who knew Martin, Holcombe said. A tree also will be planted in her name.
Amy Bridgens, a junior high student at Lawrence’s Veritas Christian School, said Martin had been her gymnastics instructor for about four years.
“She was really, really close to all us girls,” Bridgens said. “She was one of the best friends I ever had. She was an awesome gymnast, so she understood what we were going through, and spending every day there, you get really close to your teachers.”
Bridgens said Martin’s personal demeanor showed through, brightening even strenuous days in the gym. That made the news of her death even more shocking.
“She was always, always happy,” Bridgens said. “You see these kinds of things happening to random people you don’t know, so when I saw her picture in the paper, it is just so horrible.”
A research fund is being established in Martin’s name at KU. Memorial donations, sent in care of the Countryside church, will go toward undergraduate research in biology, KU officials said. The fund will be administered by the Kansas University Endowment Association.
Services are scheduled in Topeka and Lawrence to honor a Kansas University student murdered in Costa Rica.
Family and friends will remember Shannon Martin, 23, at a Friday morning ceremony at Countryside United Methodist Church in Topeka. Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home, Topeka, is in charge of arrangements, and burial will be at Highland Cemetery in Ottawa.
The exact time of the Friday morning service is pending, a church official said Tuesday.
A second service will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. A potluck dinner and service will be held to “celebrate and remember her life,” said Thad Holcombe, ECM campus minister.
“It was amazing how many people she knew and affected,” Holcombe said. “She wasn’t a loud extrovert, but she was extremely involved in the community.”
Martin was involved in the leadership at ECM and initiated the veggie lunch, a vegetarian meal served each Thursday to KU students and faculty, Holcombe said.
The ECM dinner and service is open to anyone who knew Martin, Holcombe said. A tree also will be planted in her name.
Amy Bridgens, a junior high student at Lawrence’s Veritas Christian School, said Martin had been her gymnastics instructor for about four years.
“She was really, really close to all us girls,” Bridgens said. “She was one of the best friends I ever had. She was an awesome gymnast, so she understood what we were going through, and spending every day there, you get really close to your teachers.”
Bridgens said Martin’s personal demeanor showed through, brightening even strenuous days in the gym. That made the news of her death even more shocking.
“She was always, always happy,” Bridgens said. “You see these kinds of things happening to random people you don’t know, so when I saw her picture in the paper, it is just so horrible.”
A research fund is being established in Martin’s name at KU. Memorial donations, sent in care of the Countryside church, will go toward undergraduate research in biology, KU officials said. The fund will be administered by the Kansas University Endowment Association.
Services are scheduled in Topeka and Lawrence to honor a Kansas University student murdered in Costa Rica.
Family and friends will remember Shannon Martin, 23, at a Friday morning ceremony at Countryside United Methodist Church in Topeka. Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home, Topeka, is in charge of arrangements, and burial will be at Highland Cemetery in Ottawa.
The exact time of the Friday morning service is pending, a church official said Tuesday.
A second service will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. A potluck dinner and service will be held to “celebrate and remember her life,” said Thad Holcombe, ECM campus minister.
“It was amazing how many people she knew and affected,” Holcombe said. “She wasn’t a loud extrovert, but she was extremely involved in the community.”
Martin was involved in the leadership at ECM and initiated the veggie lunch, a vegetarian meal served each Thursday to KU students and faculty, Holcombe said.
The ECM dinner and service is open to anyone who knew Martin, Holcombe said. A tree also will be planted in her name.
Amy Bridgens, a junior high student at Lawrence’s Veritas Christian School, said Martin had been her gymnastics instructor for about four years.
“She was really, really close to all us girls,” Bridgens said. “She was one of the best friends I ever had. She was an awesome gymnast, so she understood what we were going through, and spending every day there, you get really close to your teachers.”
Bridgens said Martin’s personal demeanor showed through, brightening even strenuous days in the gym. That made the news of her death even more shocking.
“She was always, always happy,” Bridgens said. “You see these kinds of things happening to random people you don’t know, so when I saw her picture in the paper, it is just so horrible.”
A research fund is being established in Martin’s name at KU. Memorial donations, sent in care of the Countryside church, will go toward undergraduate research in biology, KU officials said. The fund will be administered by the Kansas University Endowment Association.
Services are scheduled in Topeka and Lawrence to honor a Kansas University student murdered in Costa Rica.
Family and friends will remember Shannon Martin, 23, at a Friday morning ceremony at Countryside United Methodist Church in Topeka. Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home, Topeka, is in charge of arrangements, and burial will be at Highland Cemetery in Ottawa.
The exact time of the Friday morning service is pending, a church official said Tuesday.
A second service will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. A potluck dinner and service will be held to “celebrate and remember her life,” said Thad Holcombe, ECM campus minister.
“It was amazing how many people she knew and affected,” Holcombe said. “She wasn’t a loud extrovert, but she was extremely involved in the community.”
Martin was involved in the leadership at ECM and initiated the veggie lunch, a vegetarian meal served each Thursday to KU students and faculty, Holcombe said.
The ECM dinner and service is open to anyone who knew Martin, Holcombe said. A tree also will be planted in her name.
Amy Bridgens, a junior high student at Lawrence’s Veritas Christian School, said Martin had been her gymnastics instructor for about four years.
“She was really, really close to all us girls,” Bridgens said. “She was one of the best friends I ever had. She was an awesome gymnast, so she understood what we were going through, and spending every day there, you get really close to your teachers.”
Bridgens said Martin’s personal demeanor showed through, brightening even strenuous days in the gym. That made the news of her death even more shocking.
“She was always, always happy,” Bridgens said. “You see these kinds of things happening to random people you don’t know, so when I saw her picture in the paper, it is just so horrible.”
A research fund is being established in Martin’s name at KU. Memorial donations, sent in care of the Countryside church, will go toward undergraduate research in biology, KU officials said. The fund will be administered by the Kansas University Endowment Association.
