Community mourns the loss of Oak Park graduate

Nicole Rogers Nicole Kristina Rogers, 19, had movie-star good looks with long blond hair, big brown eyes, and a wide, infectious smile. Her stunning appearance, friends said, was matched only by her zest for life, but all was shattered on Aug. 9 when the Oak Park High School graduate died suddenly at her Orange County home.

According to Liz Rogers, Nicole's step-grandmother, the teen had been experiencing seizures for several years, but doctors were unable to diagnose the illness.

"She had been having these strange seizures, six total, I think, over the period of several years," Rogers said. "There were myriad tests run with no concrete results, and 10 days before she died she was hospitalized after one of these strange occurrences."

Doctors, Rogers said, called the young woman's condition "night terrors," a disturbance of the sleep pattern-Nicole would appear to be asleep, but her eyes remained wide open.

Nicole had recently moved in with her fianc, Nick Griffith, who spoke with her before leaving for work at about 6:15 on the morning she died. Another roommate found her when she didn't respond to her ringing cellphone, Rogers said.

Two services were held to celebrate Nicole's life-one at the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Laguna Woods, and the other at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village. Both were attended by hundreds of family members and friends. She was buried at El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest, Calif.

"The place was packed," said family friend Janice Patwell from Oak Park, who attended the memorial service in Orange County. "So many kids from our area and new friends she had made. She obviously touched so many people."

Nicole was born Feb. 6, 1987 in Torrance, Calif., to Alisha and Gary Rogers. She graduated from Oak Park High School last year, and was a member of a large blended family with two stepsisters and a stepbrother, biological and step-grandparents and many cousins, aunts and uncles.

Nicole was an accomplished cheerleader at Oak Park High School, and won state and national championships with the team. She was also a member of the school's dance team, had studied ballet and was a skilled equestrian and gymnast. She also dabbled in acting and modeling.

She was attending Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, and had planned to study psychology.

At the Westlake Village memorial, continuous slide shows and videos showcased Nicole as a fun-loving friend, daughter and sister.

A letter from her older stepbrother, Garrett Smith, was read at the memorial.

"You were the best sister anyone could have," Smith wrote. He called her the "craziest chick I ever have met," and noted that Nicole knew and liked everyone.

"I was amazed that you could give out so much love," Smith's letter stated.

A woman spoke of Nicole's penchant for nicknaming her friends and family, and how they shared hours of laughter. She credited Nicole for bringing two families together who might otherwise have been estranged.

During Nicole's freshman year in high school she lived with her friend Summer Barry. Barry said she and Nicole had many discussions about God and heaven, and Nicole was not afraid of dying. Barry found the Bible she had given to Nicole, and the note she had tucked into it telling her to "live life to the fullest." Friends and family agreed this was a motto that Nicole had taken to heart.

"Nicole was much more than a best friend to me-she was like a sister," another friend said. She remembered skipping class on Nicole's birthday and driving to the beach. She vowed to visit the celebration spot each year on Nicole's birthday.

Liz Rogers read a letter from Nicole's father, an Oak Park resident. He said he had witnessed a "miracle first hand." He wrote that when Nicole was in high school she had a midnight curfew. When she came home, she would come into his room, touch his leg and say "Dad, I'm home." After his daughter died, he said he woke up at midnight, having felt the touch on his leg and heard Nicole's voice saying, "Dad, I'm home."

He also wrote of seeing about 100 dragonflies in his backyard after his daughter died, and didn't realize at the time that dragonflies were her favorite symbol. She was having a dragonfly tattooed on her arm, he said.

The Revs. Steve Day and Brad Johnson presided over the memorial service in Westlake. Maria Fornoff and Scott Oatley sang several songs, including "Give Me Jesus," "The Prayer," "Amazing Grace" and "I Will Remember You."

The service ended with family members releasing butterflies as a symbol of Nicole's "new, heavenly life."