A broad grin and joyful thumbs-up captured the final moments of Angela Kim Knoche's life, just before a deadly wall of water rushed through Bear Canyon and swept her away.
That photo now is a source of comfort for her older brother.
Jeff Knoche told mourners Friday that the image tells him his younger sister is OK up in heaven.
It couldn't have been that great splashing around in the muddy water, he said, but Angela was obviously having fun.
"She knew how to have a good time, no matter what," he told hundreds of people who attended the funeral.
Angela's friends and family shared tearful embraces as they remembered her at Calvary Chapel, 8725 E. Speedway. They were able to take one last look at the young, energetic woman who spread joy to those around her.
People are also reading…
Angela, 19, died when she was hiking with friends last Saturday near Seven Falls and a flash flood charged through Bear Canyon. Staff Sgt. Timothy Hahn, a 25-year-old airman at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, died trying to rescue Knoche. They had met just hours earlier, officials said.
Services for Hahn were held earlier in the week. He is survived by his wife and 3-year-old daughter.
Angela was training to be a lifeguard at D-M when she met Aimee Wiggs, a friend who was with her when she died.
Wiggs said she was the last person to give Angela a hug.
"She didn't just go through the motion of a hug. She really squeezed you," Wiggs said. "It was as if she was passing on some of her magic to you."
Jeff Knoche also remembered his sister's special hugs. "She only accepted full-on bear hugs," he said.
And if she wasn't satisfied with the hug, she'd try again until it was done right, Jeff Knoche said.
Angela had a magnetic personality that drew people to her, Pastor Pete La Joy said.
"Angie had no problem making friends, as is evident by all of you here today," he said. Most of the roughly 1,000 chairs in Calvary Chapel's sanctuary were filled Friday morning.
Born into a military family at an air base in Spain, Angela jumped from place to place as a young child. Her mother worried that the frequent moves might keep the girl from making friends, La Joy said.
Angela soothed her mother's concerns, saying she broke the ice with other students by simply talking about the weather.
Angela had many passions as well as friends. She swam, ran track and had an interest in music. She was a self-taught mandolin player.
The stringed instrument rested against her coffin during the funeral.
She took piano lessons with her brother in Korea, Jeff Knoche said, and the teacher would slap them on the wrist when they made a mistake to keep it from happening again.
"I guess that's why she taught herself to play the guitar and mandolin," he said. She didn't want to have to endure the painful repercussions of making a mistake, he said.
The young woman had plans to continue her passion for music at Northern Arizona University, La Joy said, where she wanted to study public relations and eventually work for a Christian recording company.
Angela Kim Knoche is survived by her parents, Mark and Pok Cha Knoche; her brother; grandparents; and many other extended family members and friends.
