California State University—Long Beach (CSULB) hosted a vigil on Sunday, Nov. 15 as a remembrance of Nohemi Gonzalez, the 23-year-old industrial design student from El Monte who lost her life while having dinner at the La Belle Equipe bistro when the coordinated mass shootings, suicide bombings and hostage-taking took place. Gonzalez had been attending Strate College of Design during a semester-abroad program. She was expected to return home to California in December.
Carmen Taylor, CSULB vice president of Student Affairs, led the opening proceedings of the event.
“Cal State Long Beach may be a large urban university, located in a big city, but when we lose a member of our campus community, it affects us all,” she said. “It diminishes the whole, and we are less because of this loss.”
Taylor described Gonzalez as an innocent victim whose life ended tragically under circumstances that were not directly related to her own life.
“The attacks in Paris two days ago only seem to confirm what many of us already know: that we live in a very uncertain world,” Taylor said. “Even the most innocent among us are at risk when doing nothing more than living our daily lives. That’s all Nohemi Gonzalez was doing when she found herself in the middle of some senseless act of violence that had nothing to do with her.”
Taylor introduced several other speakers, including: CSULB President Jane Close Conoley; CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White; French Consul-Générale in Los Angeles Christophe Lemoine; CSULB Design Department Chair Martin Herman; CSULB ASI President Jose Salazar; Gonzalez’s stepfather, Jose Hernandez, and other family members; and design students Alex Schumacher, Angela Hickman and Tanya Flores. Members of the Bob Cole Conservatory also performed songs.
Tim Mraz, who was Gonzalez’s boyfriend of four years, also addressed the assembly. Struggling to hold back tears, but comforted by Gonzalez’s stepfather, Mraz explained how he referred to Gonzalez as “Pocahontas,” because of a tattoo on her left arm, and how she, in turn, called him her “John Smith.”
“She’s my little firecracker,” he said. “She’ll always be here. She’ll always be in my heart, and I think she’s going to be in everyone else’s heart too. You’re always in my heart. I love you, baby.”
After hearing from the speakers, the assembled group filed out of the ballroom and onto the plaza outside the student union, to light candles.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-20-at-11.29.57-AM.png” credit=”Cory Bilicko/Signal Tribune ” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”A crowd of mourners gathers in the plaza outside the student union at Cal State Long Beach Sunday afternoon in honor of Nohemi Gonzalez, the 23-year-old industrial-design student who lost her life in the attacks on Paris, France on Nov. 13. ” captionposition=”left”] Lindsay Delrossi, who taught Gonzalez in her high-intensity-training exercise classes at the university, was among those mourning at Sunday’s vigil. She characterized the event as one of unity among those in attendance.
“The feeling at the vigil was that of ‘coming togetherness,'” Delrossi told the Signal Tribune this week. “The students, staff and alumni are all on different paths, but that night we were united. Hearing the more personal stories from friends and family was heartbreaking. Such a young, beautiful bright light Nohemi was. I am blessed that I got to witness that first-hand.”
Delrossi, who leads classes at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, said Gonzalez had attended her classes on a voluntary basis a couple times a week for the last few years.
“She loved to exercise,” Delrossi said. “Always in the front row, always smiling, even when she got all tangled up in the choreography of the exercises. We would exchange glances and laugh about her clumsiness, but it never slowed her down.”
Delrossi described the difficult time she had saying goodbye to her student before her trip to France.
“A few weeks before her departure to Paris, she told me that she would be gone for a semester to study abroad,” Delrossi said. “We hugged, and I asked, ‘But I will see you back again in the spring?’ She said yes. I selfishly didn’t want to see her go. I love my students and take a ‘big sister’ approach in my relationship with them.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”350px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-20-at-10.39.09-AM.png” credit=”Cory Bilicko/Signal Tribune ” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Tim Mraz (left), who was Gonzalez’s boyfriend of four years, is comforted by Gonzalez’s stepfather, Jose Hernandez, during a Nov. 15 memorial at Cal State Long Beach.” captionposition=”right”] Delrossi said Gonzalez’s childlike energy resonated with her.
“I see about 200 students a week, but she stood out like a fire,” Delrossi said. I called her No No. She was so focused on getting the exercises right that I don’t think she noticed.”
However, there are three memories Delrossi says she will replay in her mind when she wants to remember Gonzalez. “Her adoring clumsiness in class, the sight of her leaving the gym on her razor scooter and the look on her face when she approached me after class to tell me she was leaving for Paris,” Delrossi said. “These words come to mind: pure, airiness, unjaded, nubile spirit.”
Those interested in assisting the Gonzalez Family can find “The Nohemi Gonzalez Memorial Fund” at donationto.com/The-Nohemi-Gonzalez-Memorial-Fund .
