Accident takes student’s life

The day after Elizabeth Rihm’s funeral, her friends and sorority sisters continue to mourn her tragic death in a car accident last Friday.

Members of her sorority honored the memory of their friend by placing black cloth on all the windows of the sorority house and by placing black ribbons and flags on the front porch. Flowers, balloons, and stuffed turtles — the Delta Zeta mascot — mark the spot on the corner where Rihm died.

Elizabeth Anne Rihm, a 20-year-old special education major, died at the scene after a sheriff’s department cruiser struck the driver’s – side door of her 1996 Saturn last Friday at 2:52 a.m. Funeral services were held Thursday at 11 a.m. at St. Oliver’s Catholic Church in Snellville.

Rihm, a native of Snellville, GA, was a sophomore at Georgia College & State University. She was also a member of the Delta Zeta sorority where she was the philanthropy chair.

Friends remembered her as always putting others’ needs ahead of her own.

“Beth cared about everyone, always wanting to help and was always willing to get involved,” said Melanie Chastain, a fellow Delta Zeta.

Dr. Craig Smith, chair of the Department of Special Education, fondly remembers Rihm.

“She was such a beautiful young lady. We will definitely miss her,” said Smith.

Her campus involvement was legendary, her friends said.

“She was always trying to get people involved in community service,” said Chastain. “Beth loved philanthropy and was the most giving person
you will ever meet.”

“This was the happiest point in her life. Everything was going well for her, and she was just at a happy point when she died, which is good,” said Brandi Davis, another Delta Zeta sister.

Vice president and dean of student affairs Bruce Harshbarger reminded students, faculty and staff to keep Rihm’s family in their prayers.

“This is an incredibly difficult experience for everyone at GC&SU. Beth was a very talented young woman with a promising future. She felt a calling to the field of special education – a field that demands extraordinary commitment, compassion and caring. She was very engaged in campus life, and her sisters in Delta Zeta sorority are feeling the loss at an especially personal level,” he said. “I hope that everyone at GC&SU will keep Beth’s parents, her two older sisters and others in the Rihm family in their thoughts and prayers as they struggle to cope with this tragedy.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 21 2003. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry