Pier memorial recalls accident victim

Danette Goulet

Clutching small bundles of flowers, friends and family members of

Chelsea Toma gathered in front of Huntington Surf and Sport Friday to

remember the young girl.

“She made us all feel so comfortable,” said Tack Shin, her manager at

the surf shop where she worked for about two years.

Shin told a crowd of mourners of how he could never be angry with her,

even when she broke the rules.

“She brought us all together at the surf and sport,” he said.

Toma, 19, was one of three teenage girls killed in car accident on

March 20, when the car they were in was broadsided in an intersection.

Jillian Baedeker, 19, and 18-year-old Nancy Le were also killed in the

accident.

The memorial, one of several for the teenagers in the past weeks, was

a way for Toma’s co-workers to remember her. They gathered in front of

the store near where mourners have left photos, poems and flowers. They

reminisced about her infectious smile and sang of their loss and love for

her.

The group then made its way down to the end of the pier where they

threw identical bundles of daffodils and wildflowers into the ocean.