Jonel Kathryn Hoogterp, 26, of Durham, North Carolina, died Friday, July 31, 2009, of injuries from being struck by a car on South Gould City Road in Newton Township Saturday, July 25.

Ms. Hoogterp was born May 13, 1983, in Engadine to Tom and Kathy Hoogterp. Valedictorian of her Engadine High School class in 2001, she also earned all-U.P. Basketball honors that year.

She was graduated from Aquinas College and moved to Durham, where she was employed as a bartender at Sunset Grill. At the time of her death, Ms. Hoogterp was a volunteer emergency medical technician, taking course work to become a paramedic.

She will be remembered for her love of people and pets, friends said. She loved waterfalls and trees and photographing bumblebees. She loved her mother's hearty laugh, they said. She praised her mother's bean tostadas; she'll never taste her father's homemade wine.

Ms. Hoogterp is survived by her parents, of Engadine; her brother, Jake Hoogterp of Royal Oak; her grandmother, Shirley Garthwaite of Mount Pleasant; her grandparents, Dick and Judie Garthwaite of Pine Island, Florida, and Beaver Island; and aunts, uncles, and numerous cousins, mostly in the Grand Rapids area.

She was preceded in death by her grandmother, Dorothy Hoogterp.

At her request, her organs will be donated for medical use and her remains have been cremated.

A celebration of Ms. Hoogterp's life will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday, August 6, at the Engadine High School gymnasium. Visitation begins at 2 p.m. Chaplain Mark Holland, an emergency medical technician with Parkwood Fire, Rescue, and EMS in Durham, will officiate.

Those wishing to make memorials are asked to consider the Beacon House in Marquette.

Beaulieu Funeral Home in Newberry is assisting the family with arrangements.