Friends and family of Lisabette Chang '93, who died in July, gathered to remember her yesterday at a memorial service in Rollins Chapel.
Chang, a presidential scholar who had returned to school after a two-year battle with leukemia, died of a cardiac arrest while swimming in the Connecticut River.
The service was led by Rev. Gwendolyn King. Chang's friends, professors and doctor spoke during the ceremony.
Holding back tears, Jori Church '93 spoke of the lifelong bond she said she will have with Chang. "The courage and inner strength with which [she] taught me to face life will always be with me," she said.
Church also spoke about Chang's love for making gifts for her friends in the Hopkins Center's jewelry studio.
Dr. Alan Kritz, a specialist in hematology and oncology at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, spoke of the friendship that he developed with Chang during the four years he treated her in New York and at the medical center.
"She was a brave woman," he said, speaking of the sense of humor she maintained about her life and her condition.
Chang, who was an English major, started her presidential scholar research on Virginia Woolf with English Professor Brenda Silver. Silver spoke of the great admiration she had for Chang.
"My image of Lisa will always be of a woman about to be a scholar in her right," Silver said.
Chang's parents, Sue Lee Chang and Ki Young Chang of Tarrytown, N.Y., and her younger brother Kai Young Chang sat in the front row during the ceremony.
"Take a lesson from Chang's life," King said, "Open doors when they seem to be closed."
The Aires, a student a capella group, sang "Dartmouth Undying" at the close of the memorial service. A reception followed in the lounge of the Tucker Foundation in South Fairbanks Hall.
Dean of Students Lee Pelton, Dean of the Class of 1993 Sylvia Langford, Upperclass Dean Dan Nelson and Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia attended the service.
