Rachel Souza Entwhistle

Rachel in the vegetable stand in York - UK, October 1999

I knew her in 1999 when she was 19 years old and a summer intern at my company. She was a bundle of energy and she had a mischievous smile and when talking to her, you could feel a tug at the corners of your lips.

She was funny and silly and smart and just happy, wonderfully happy almost all the time. She was so chirpy that I asked her one day if she drank before she came in to work. She was adventurous and full of life and always had at least 2 guys clamoring for her attention.

She told me that she was going to York that year on exchange to the University of York and I was going to London that October of 1999. We said the usual things when coincidence like that arose: "We should hook up when you get there!" and I responded, "Of course, you can show me around and we'll have dinner."

Usually, those well intentioned ideas never come to fruition but Rachel always did what she said she'd do. It was something I remembered about her. When she left, the next month, she e-mailed me to give me her phone number in York and to remind me that we had a dinner date.

As the date of departure grew closer, I still didn't really think I'd see her in England but when I arrived at our hotel in Weybridge, there was a message waiting for me from Rachel. When I called her back the next day, she already had train schedules ready for me. There was no escaping the Rachel once she had her mind set on something.

I boarded a train in London and rode through gorgeous countryside to York. I saw her as the train pulled onto the platform and when she caught sight of me, her smile grew wider and suddenly she was in tears because there I was, someone from home in this unfamiliar yet beautiful country.

Rachel's life in York was taking shape: she was on crew as the coxswain (of course, what else for Rachel?), she'd already met a wonderful guy who was also in the rowing club (Neil, her future husband as it turns out), she was ringing the bells in the abbey and she was growing more and more independent. I took a photo of the photos a few years ago.

The Abbey - Rachel was so proud to have been the bell ringer

The brick walkway that stretches around the town

I love the photograph of her at the vegetable stand in York. I never got to see her again after that day in York. She is wearing her trademark stunning smile and she was so proud of her new bob and make-up and stylish cream colored sweater and trousers. She looks so young and hopeful and innocent in the photo and I hope she was always able to retain that innocence.

I lost track of her a few years after she was graduated from Holy Cross. The Rachel I remember would not have been involved in anything dishonest and would not have tolerated it because she had such a strong character. People change, I realize that, but Rachel was an honest, true blue soul. I will hold on to the memories of her and our day together from 1999 and the wonderful, vivacious woman who was taken from her friends and family far too soon.