'Kennywood' storm victim remembered

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By Ann Rodgers-Melnick

Post-Gazette, Sunday, June 02, 2002

Some would say chance took Stephanie Wilkerson to Kennywood Park, where she died Friday when the roof above a ride collapsed during a sudden, terrible storm. But her mother believes it was the hand of God, opening the door to heaven through a park that her daughter loved.

"Her work on earth was done," Helen Gillcrese Wilkerson said of her 29-year-old daughter.

"God's word says that she is absent from this world but present with the Lord. We know that through faith, but it is so hard to rejoice."

Wilkerson worked for Mellon Global Cash Management's government operations division in the Mellon Client Service Center, Downtown, and was an active church and community volunteer. She was single, lived with her parents in Monroeville and doted on her nieces and nephews.

She went to Kennywood because two relatives and a friend of theirs wanted a fourth person for rides that require a partner. As it turned out, the friend didn't go, leaving the group as a threesome, relatives told KDKA-TV.

They were in a long line for The Exterminator and Wilkerson, an avid reader, went to retrieve a book from a locker so she could read in line. She was separated from her companions when the storm destroyed a shelter covering the tame, turn-of-the-century ride known as the Whip, which is adjacent to The Exterminator.

According to Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht, she died of head injuries when she was buried beneath debris from the collapsed roof shortly before 7 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene 10 minutes later. The coroner's office and Allegheny County and West Mifflin police are investigating.

If she died too soon, she was also born too soon. She would have turned 30 on Aug. 24, a date far earlier than her birthday should have been. She was so premature that she was not expected to live.

No one could have asked for a better daughter, her mother said. She was loving and soft-spoken.

"She was her father's princess. I always called her my lady. She was my angel," she said.

She didn't smoke, drink or date, family members said, but enjoyed herself in wholesome ways. Kennywood was a favorite spot to visit with friends and relatives.

"Stephanie loved life -- and she loved amusement parks," her mother said.

After graduating from Gateway High School in 1992, she earned two degrees from the Boyce Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County. When it came time to look for a job, her mother told her that volunteer work would look good on her resume.

So she became a volunteer in the Discovery Room of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Oakland. Though long since employed by Mellon, she continued to volunteer every Saturday morning for the past five years.

"I think quiet dedication is the best way to describe Stephanie," said Shirley Rust, a program assistant in the Discovery Room, where visitors can handle artifacts such as animal bones.

"She greeted visitors, welcomed them and just made them feel comfortable in the room. We encourage people to make their own discoveries, and she urged them to do that without getting in the way. She was a very gentle person. This has certainly stunned us, and we will miss her."

She was a devoted aunt, taking her nieces and nephews to the Carnegie Science Center, Chuck E. Cheese and other fun spots. She had recently taught a nephew who was timid about heights to climb a high ladder so he could go down a slide with the other children.

She was building a music library on her new computer, and had given her older one to her mother. She recently ordered a 27-inch television set as a Father's Day gift.

At Bethel AME Church in Monroeville, she was a church officer who helped with the youth group and prepared communion kits for the Rev. Gary Yarbro to take to shut-ins.

"Stephanie was the sweetest, kindest, most innocent, pure-hearted individual you would ever want to meet," Yarbro said. "She volunteered to do anything she could for anybody. She absolutely adored children. She took care of everybody's children."

Her strong faith has become her mother's greatest consolation.

"We loved her, but God loved her best. His son didn't live very long. My daughter lived even less. I still trust him explicitly. I know he has a divine plan for all of us and a predestined time for us all," she said.

Funeral arrangments were incomplete, but will be handled by the Watts Memorial Chapel in Braddock.