(October 22, 2006) -- Memories -- and the crowd -- overflowed at Lakewood's Parkcrest Christian Church on Oct. 22 at a memorial service for Kate Stephens, who perished Oct. 17 when she tried cross Ocean Blvd. near 36th Pl. in the pre-sunrise period and was struck by a police car on routine patrol.
Pews filled in the neighborhood church (6200 block of Woodruff Ave.) and the crowd lined the walls, packed the area behind the pews...
...and overflowed into the lobby.
Another roughly fifty people waited in a hallway and stood by an open door inside the building.
About fifty more people waited outside.
Among the standing-room-only crowd in the hallway was Dave Sanders, who coached one of Ms. Stephens' sons in Park League Baseball. "It's incredible how many people she touched," Mr. Sanders said.
His observation was echoed in the chapel. "Look around you," the packed crowd was told. "This is just a fraction of the of the people Kate touched in her life and her work."
Attendees alternately dabbed their eyes and shared laughter as speakers recalled Ms. Stephens as someone who loved life, her family and her friends.
Kate Stephens would have turned 40 in mid-December. Five children survive her. LBPD says the accident remains under investigation.