'Overwhelming, wonderful'

COEUR d'ALENE - Vicki Bonasera knew her daughter, Michelle, was special.

But she didn't realize how many others felt the same way until last month, when Vicki found herself in the middle of a mother's worst nightmare.

Michelle, a 19-year-old University of Idaho exercise science major, died Feb. 13 when the Chevy Blazer she was driving drifted off U.S. 95 north of Moscow. The vehicle went over an embankment, and rolled.

It wasn't until Michelle's memorial service that it began to dawn on Bonasera and her husband, Dave, that their child had touched a lot of lives.

"When you go to make these arrangements you hope you'll never have to make, they ask you how many memorial pamphlets you'll need," Bonasera said.

Bonasera wasn't sure, so she suggested 400. Her husband told them to just make 500.

"We had over 700 people come to her service," Bonasera said. "It was just overwhelming, wonderful."

The crash occurred on a Sunday afternoon. Michelle was returning to the University of Idaho's Moscow campus with her friend, fellow exercise science major Andree Maxwell, after an overnight visit to the Bonasera home in Coeur d'Alene.

The girls left to head back to Moscow in the early afternoon.

Police investigators believe Michelle fell asleep at the wheel. Maxwell was ejected from the vehicle, and sustained critical injuries.

Officers at the scene did not think Maxwell would survive the trip to the hospital.

Michelle was a 2009 graduate of Coeur d'Alene High School where she was involved in DECA, an association of marketing students who work on developing business and career leadership skills. Although she stood at just an inch over 5-feet tall, Michelle played volleyball for the Vikings.

"She was a little pipsqueak, but she didn't walk into a room. She bounded in and bounced," Bonasera said. "In about 10 minutes, you knew everything about her and her family."

At the University of Idaho, Michelle was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority, and planned to become a physical therapist.

The Bonaseras had planned to invite everyone who attended Michelle's service to join them at their home afterward. Then, they received a phone call from Moscow, and learned that 65 sorority girls were traveling to Coeur d'Alene for the service at Coeur d'Alene Bible Church.

Administrators at Coeur d'Alene High School, across the street from the church, opened the school up for the family to host a reception following the memorial.

"The generosity of people just amazed me," Bonasera said.

She and her husband, and Michelle's younger brother, Blake, were also moved and warmed by the outpouring of support, and the wonderful stories they heard about Michelle during the service.

Jon Hastings, Michelle's marketing/DECA teacher at CHS, gave a eulogy.

"Her energy seemed endless and was contagious. You couldn't be around her without contracting her enthusiastic attitude and positive persona," Hastings said during the service. "I can still see her sitting to my right in the front of the class. I never looked at her without being given the biggest smile and brightest look she had. It brightened my day."

He told the crowd that he would often joke with Michelle about her height.

"I would often ask her, 'How in the world do you play varsity volleyball.' She would say, 'My size doesn't matter; it's what I do with it.'"

Bonasera and her husband tried to speak with as many people as they could on the day of the service.

"Once we left that, we knew life was going to go differently," Bonasera said.

And it has, but along the way, there have been moments that, like the service, have helped carry the Bonaseras through their grief.

Not long after the memorial, they received a call from the University of Idaho's College of Education. They learned that the college was establishing the Michelle Bonasera Memorial Scholarship. Once the scholarship fund reaches $25,000, the college will award a $1,000 scholarship per year forever.

"Nothing good is going to come out of this tragedy for us, except to know that someone else is being helped who might not otherwise be able to have some of the same experiences and opportunities Michelle had," Bonasera said.

They also learned that Michelle and Andree's Kappa Delta Sorority sisters, with help from one of the campus fraternities, had initiated a drive to collect funds to help the each of the young women's families.

"We kind of just all pulled together and decided this is what we need to do for both of these families," said sorority president Georgia Powell

It has been a difficult month for the sorority, Powell said. That's why they're focusing on doing something positive in Michelle's honor.

"We don't want to lose her spirit. For how little she was, she packed a punch. She had such a zest for life," Powell said.

The students' goal was to raise $10,000 so they could give $5,000 to each family.

They're almost there, Powell said. They've already raised $8,000.

The Bonaseras' share will go toward the scholarship fund.

"Those kids down there have just been amazing," Bonasera said.

Bonasera is grateful that Andree Maxwell is recovering. She maintains regular contact with Maxwell, who is home now in Boise, undergoing rigorous outpatient rehabilitation.

For Maxwell, the finances collected by her peers have helped cushion the blow of a costly, difficult recovery process.

"I've got a lot of broken bones. I had brain surgery. It's a miracle that I'm alive," Maxwell said, in a phone interview from Boise.

She has four different types of physical therapy to endure.

"My family and I aren't well off financially," Maxwell said. "It's helping us a ton. I don't know what we would do without it."

Maxwell knows Michelle would have appreciated it.

She's looking forward to returning to school in Moscow next fall, but she's also nervous about it.

"Michelle and I were glued at the hip. We spent every second together, and when we weren't together, we were usually texting," Maxwell said. "I know it's going to be different, and she won't be there. It's going to be hard."

Maxwell doesn't remember the crash, and believes she was sleeping when it happened.

"How I always think of it is Michelle is my guardian angel princess," Maxwell said.

She recalls asking for Michelle in the days after coming to following her brain surgery. Maxwell remembers feeling confused. It was hard for her to understand that Michelle was gone.

"I remember saying to my mother, 'So she won't text me back?'" Maxwell said.

The girls were there for each other as they made their way through the challenges of college life - from homework to romantic heartbreak.

Maxwell still feels Michelle's support. When things get tough, she talks to her friend.

"I say, 'Dear Michelle,' and tell her about my day. I always think of her," Maxwell said.

Michelle loved boating and snowmobiling. In the summer, she worked at the Snack Shack at the Boardwalk Marina, and also helped her dad at the family business, Bonasera Mobile Repair.

Gifts can be made to the Michelle Bonasera Memorial Scholarship by mail to:

University of Idaho Foundation

Michelle Bonasera Memorial Scholarship

PO Box 443147

Moscow, ID 83844-3147

Information: (208) 885-7537