Junior nursing major Amanda Michelle Bebout will be remembered as a good friend, a caring nurse, a fearless adventurer, a devoted daughter, and most of all, a loving sister.
The pews in Robert Carr Chapel were filled Friday night as students and community members gathered to mourn the loss of a friend.
Senior entrepreneurial management major Andrew Kangerga said Bebout gave the best hugs and had a love for all of humanity.
“I’m sure she wishes she could take away all our pain,” he said.
Bebout, 20, was found dead Monday night at her off-campus residence on Lubbock Avenue.
Bebout’s Gamma Phi Beta sisters shared their memories of sunburns, spring break and skydiving. They carried pink carnations and performed musical selections, including the song “Remember,” a Gamma Phi Beta anthem. One of her roommates, senior political science major Hanna Useem, said her best years of college were when she and Bebout lived together.
“We should remember her not for the last few days, but how she shaped our lives in the last three years,” Useem said, citing a conversation with Bebout’s mother.
Bebout’s family in California did not attend the service but reached out to her friends through written messages. Her mother wrote that she hoped to keep in touch with her daughter’s friends to fill the hole left in her heart.
Her family described Bebout’s remarkable similarities to her grandmother, including her compassion for others and dream of being a nurse. She spent the past spring break doing medical work in Swaziland through the Fort Worth Sister Cities and planned to join the Peace Corps.
The Rev. Ryan McCarthy, college pastor for Christ Chapel Bible Church, told students to lean on each other and cherish their memories of Amanda.
After the ceremony, students and community members gathered in the cloisters behind the chapel to enjoy Bebout’s favorite foods and talk.
According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, Bebout’s toxicology results are pending. However, police said this week the investigation has shown her death is “a likely suicide.” The investigation is ongoing, according to police.