 "Photo: Jeb Draper")
 "Photo: Jeb Draper")
It was Caitlin Schmitt’s first day at a new school when a little girl in shorts and braided hair came up to her.
“Hi, my name is Gina and my mom said I should be your friend, because you’re new and I need new friends and so do you.”
From the fourth grade on, Schmitt had a best friend who was always around to cheer her up, she said.
“She made everybody’s day all the time,” Schmitt said. “She was really caring.”
A candlelight vigil was held Oct. 14 for 21-year-old Gina Maggio, who was found dead at a friend’s house Oct. 5.
More than 100 people were in attendance at the Alpha Phi sorority house at 504 W. Third St. to show support and remember Maggio, a communication sciences and disorders major with a minor in child development.
Friends and sorority sisters of Maggio told stories, signed poster boards and shared songs from 8 to 9 p.m.
Maggio, whose funeral was held Oct. 12 at St. Frances Cabrini Church in her hometown of San Jose, was an active member of the Alpha Phi Sorority, which put on the vigil.
Maggio’s mother, sister and brother all spoke at her funeral, said Estelle Puccio, vice president of marketing for Alpha Phi.
“They’re a very strong, supportive family,” she said.
Friends and family of Maggio were shocked when they heard of her death, Puccio said. They saw no change in Maggio’s personality before she died.
“We saw her at the meeting before and she was always smiling,” she said. “She was lively.”
Maggio went to Archbishop Mitty High School before coming to Chico State, where she stayed active in the community, Puccio said.
“She was really involved in Alpha Phi, she loved it,” Puccio said. “It’s been the toughest week, ever. Monday could have potentially been the toughest day of my life.”
Tennis was one of Maggio’s favorite sports throughout high school and she continued to play in college with her pledge sister and roommate, Brittany Goodwin.
She beat Maggio on a regular basis, but Maggio was still a good player, Goodwin said.
Maggio was a great student and always made her classes, Goodwin said. She only took off class when she recently broke her foot.
During the pledge process, Maggio would always make light of serious moments and made the other pledges feel comfortable, said Kelsey Small, chapter president of Alpha Phi.
“There was never a dull moment,” Small said. “During recruitment, she was always a jokester. When we had to be quiet, she was always the giggler.”
Maggio was a positive person who was friends with everyone, said senior Steve Powell. She always had something to say and was never afraid to speak her mind or help other people.
Meeting new people and making friends was never a problem for Maggio, who was very outgoing, said junior Tommy Loretz.
“Last summer, one of my friends in Santa Clara was having a party, but no one was there,” Loretz said. “She went out and got a bunch of her friends to come and turned it into a really fun party.”
Maggio’s death has been hard for her sorority sisters to deal with, said Karen Kimmelshue, Alpha Phi’s chapter adviser and “mom away from home.” Her passing has also hit home for Kimmelshue, who has two kids of her own around Maggio’s age.
The cause of Maggio’s death is still under investigation and toxicology reports could take up to six weeks to come out, said Detective Jim Parrott of the Chico Police Department.
Maggio was not breathing when discovered by friends and was pronounced dead when paramedics responded at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 5 to the house on the 1200 block of Chestnut Street where she had stayed the night, according to a Chico Police Department press release.
Maggio touched a lot of people’s lives, Schmitt said. During her service in San Jose, the church was overflowing with people devastated by her loss.
“I know when people die young, maybe their funerals are bigger, but not like that,” Schmitt said.
Mike North can be reached at
mnorth@theorion.com
Due to the overwhelming number of letters about Gina we received this week we were not able to publish them all here. To see more letters about Gina — and to share your own — please visit chicostatetheorion.wordpress.com
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