By KJ Burns
The Newman community has spent this week mourning the loss of 18-year-old McKenzie Rohr, a first-year student and member of Newman’s new track and field team who was found dead Sunday in her dorm room in Carrocci Hall.
On Wednesday, students, faculty, friends and teammates gathered for a memorial service for Rohr in St. John’s Chapel. They described her as a shy girl with a genuine smile who, after just a few months at Newman, was starting to open up and find her place.
“She just was a sweet person,” said director of track and field Derrick Young Jr. “That’s the disheartening thing about it.”
The memorial service filled the pews at St. John’s with people from Rohr’s life, including members of her immediate family and of the track and field team, who sat in the front of the chapel. Several people shared memories of Rohr during the service, including Young, who described a day last week that Rohr unboxed new track-and-field equipment in his office.
Young remembered how excited Rohr, who was to be a thrower on the team, was to see the new discus and other throwing equipment.
“I'm just so appreciative of the time I got to spend with her. . the sweetest girl I ever met,” he said. “Not one time she complained, and that's a testimony to her family… I'm going to continue to honor her forever. She's a part of us forever.”
Other people who spoke at the memorial included Rohr’s younger sister, her roommate Ronnie Baird, her adviser Angie McCoy, her professor Audrey Hane, Newman president Kathleen Jagger and head cross country coach Amber McVicar.
“Every time I saw her, she was a strong, silent leader, and it breaks my heart that we won't get to see her put on that uniform,” McVicar said.
People who spoke at the memorial service remembered Rohr as someone who liked “firsts.” She wanted to be the first person from her family to graduate college, and she was excited about being a member of Newman’s first ever track and field team, McVicar said.
“She wanted to be a part of something,” McVicar said. “She wanted to be a part of the program, the very first iteration of it, and I think that speaks volumes about who she was as a person and also the impact she’s going to have on this team and the teams to come.”
Rohr was from New Cambria, a small town about seven miles northeast of Salina. She went to high school in nearby Solomon, where she not only was a member of the track team but also wrestled and even played on the football team.
She came to Newman as a sports media and promotion major, but McCoy said that Rohr had recently changed her major to Agricultural Technology Management.
“I remember how excited we were to welcome her into the program, especially because she was our first female student in that major,” McCoy said. “She was beginning a new chapter, and we were looking forward to her journey.”
Through tears, Rohr’s roommate, Baird, reminisced about their early days together in Carrocci, about the moment they finally met in person.
“The little moments that we had I will forever cherish,” she said. “I’m so sad that I won’t be able to experience track season with her. I know how excited she was for it and how her face lit up when she was telling me about her new equipment.”
Jagger said at the beginning of the memorial service that the outpouring of love shown for Rohr since her death was a testament not only to her but also to the Newman community.
“I just want to say for anybody that's out there in the chapel here today who thinks they don't make a difference, McKenzie was here for only a few months,” Jagger said. “Look at the impact she's made. This is a place where everybody does matter.”
Services for Rohr will be next week in Salina. There will be a viewing and visitation from 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Ryan Mortuary, 137 N. Eighth St. A memorial service will happen at the mortuary at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
An announcement her family posted online about the services encouraged people to wear pink and cheetah print, both of which McKenzie loved.
“We’d love to see everyone celebrate her life with a little color and personality, just as she would have loved,” the announcement reads.
PHOTO: Courtesy, Newman University
