We asked Emma's friends to write down their memories of Emma on a special
sheet. Some of these are bound in a book, some have been returned to us
separately, and other memories arrive in other ways. This page is
a changing sampling of some of these memories.
Nina Frazier writes:
What I remember most about Emma is her smile. She was so beautiful and cheery.
Also her long hair, it was so dark. Her brilliance--I could never
really grasp the concept of flow charts although I loved Mr. B. But
Emma in class understood everything. She was so smart in history,
the front of the class, raised her hand to every question, always
right on target. In Math from the beginning of the year and right
through her illness, she did so well. I'll remember her as being very
smart.
Emma liked hats, soft animals :), giving B-day cards out, school, her
friends, her peers, her teachers, Uni high.
Emma disliked having people prove her wrong. I saw her as a debater,
and was good at it.
What I liked best about Emma was her sweet, tough, strongwilled, positive
smart, opinionated personality. She knew who she was, she had a great
identity of herself and no one was going to change that.
I will always remember when we ran to math and I got to zoo---om
her wheel chair through Uni hallways, barely making it. :)
To the entire Koenker family (including Finnegan), I am deeply saddened to hear of my friend Emma's departure. I guess for a while there I knew that things weren't going so well, but I always had hope, which I'm sure all of us did. Emma was a great friend to me. I always enjoyed getting her letters and postcards from all different exotic places, or her summer camps which seemed to me, from her description, the most enjoyable place in the world. I'll never forget, when emma first joined my third grade class in Australia, her name was written up on the board, EMMA KOENKER, and I thought wow, what a cool last name, sort of like conquer the world, and in many aspects that's exactly what Emma did. I'll never forget her crazy hat with the fan on it, that everyone here in Australia, wished they had and thought was oh so impressive. But most of all I'll never forget her smile, and the warmth and love she gave that made her the most wonderful person. Good luck with the future, Love Fleur Peters, emma's buddy from Australia.