From left, Jena Marks, her brother Daniel Walters, her mother Kari Marks, and her brother Jeff Marks. Jena and Kari Marks, along with Jena's boyfriend, Patrick Campbell, died in a vehicle crash on Saturday, January 14, 2012. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Ambrose.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The lives of three Hidden Valley Lake residents who died in a vehicle crash last weekend will be commemorated in a Sunday afternoon service.
The memorial service for Kari and Jena Marks, and Patrick Campbell will take place beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, at the Middletown High School gymnasium, 20932 Big Canyon Road.
A reception will follow at the Middletown Lions Club, 15399 Central Park Road.
The family invites the community to attend both events.
In lieu of flowers, the families ask that donations be made to the memorial accounts set up in the Marks' and Campbell's names.
The Kari and Jena Marks Memorial Fund is at Wells Fargo Bank. Checks can be made to Kari Marks’ son, Daniel Walters, with the memorial fund name and account number, 8534215515, in the memo line. Funds will cover the services and reception, and a memorial for the two victims.
Campbell’s family also has set up a memorial fund in his name at Wells Fargo Bank in Sebastopol, phone 707-824-2620.
Hundreds of people are expected at the Sunday service.
“It’s going to be huge,” said Sacramento resident Alexandra Ambrose, a close friend of Jena Marks. The two attended Middletown High School together.
Kari Marks, 53, Jena Marks, 24, and the 27-year-old Campbell died in a crash last Saturday, Jan. 14, near Lower Lake, as Lake County News has reported.
Ambrose said the three were going to a birthday party along with Kari Marks’ longtime boyfriend, 50-year-old Michael Wright, when the crash occurred.
The California Highway Patrol said Wright was driving a BMW 740 northbound on Highway 29 south of Spruce Grove Road North shortly before 8 p.m. Jan. 14 when the vehicle started to skid sideways, putting it in the path of 53-year-old Clearlake resident Steven Beyer’s Ford SUV.
Wright, Steven Beyer and Beyer’s wife, 54-year-old Lezley Beyer, sustained major injuries and were flown by air ambulance to regional trauma centers.
“We don’t know what the cause may have been,” said Ambrose. “I hope we find out.”
This week the CHP indicated that investigators had reached no conclusions on what, ultimately, caused the deadly collision.
Ambrose said she was devastated when she found out about the crash, and is trying to cope with her friend’s death.
She said there has been a huge outpouring of support from community members and friends in the wake of the crash.
“I’ve gotten messages from people in high school who I haven’t spoken to in forever,” she said. “It’s kinda cool how a small community works.”
Daniel Walters posted a message on his Facebook page to thank the community for its support and positive thoughts.
Patrick Campbell and girlfriend Jena Marks. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Ambrose.
Ambrose noted that Jena and Kari Marks and Campbell “were greatly loved and cared for by so many people.”
She and Jena Marks met in the seventh grade and attended elementary and high school together.
Ambrose remembered her young friend as very studious, smart and funny. “Everyone in high school loved Jena,” she remembered.
After they graduated from Middletown High School in 2005, Ambrose lived for a few months with Jena and Kari Marks at their home.
She remembered Kari Marks painting a bedroom for her. “She was very motherly to me.”
Kari Marks was a very social, caring woman, Ambrose said.
“She was also kinda like the cool mom to hang out with,” a woman who was fun and enjoyed spending time with her daughter and her daughter’s friends, according to Ambrose.
Ambrose and Jena Marks later moved to Santa Rosa and lived together for about two years while attending school.
Ambrose attended Santa Rosa Junior College, later moving to Sacramento to finish college at Sacramento State.
She said Marks attended Sonoma State University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a concentration in accounting and a minor in economics.
But what Jena Marks had really wanted to do was attend Santa Rosa Junior College’s dental hygienist training program. She applied several times and, after persevering, had been admitted, Ambrose said.
“That meant the world to her,” said Ambrose.
Jena Marks and Campbell, who had been together about five years, had moved back to Hidden Valley Lake to live with her mother. Ambrose said Jena Marks commuted to Santa Rosa to pursue her dental hygienist coursework, and had just finished her first semester of study and was about to start her second.
Campbell was a 2003 Middletown High School graduate. He was a production manager at Olivier Napa Valley in St. Helena, and was studying to be an electrician, taking part in the apprentice program with the Electrician's Union IBEW Local 551. He had just landed his dream job, according to his obituary.
Campbell, who loved the outdoors, also had worked as a volunteer firefighter in St. Helena and Middletown, his obituary said.
His family’s tribute to him remembered him as a positive and happy person. “His infectious, fun-loving, uplifting attitude inspired others to be better.”
He loved to cook, and Ambrose remembered him being a better cook than his girlfriend. “He could cook up anything.”
She said the couple also had a well-loved cat, a Maine coon named Daisy, who now is being cared for by another close friend.
Ambrose said Kari Marks was excited to be a grandmother, with her son Daniel Walters and his wife, Jill, of Rohnert Park giving her a little granddaughter and a brand new baby grandson. Her son, Jeff Marks, had recently joined the Marines.
“Kari loved her family,” Ambrose said.
Ambrose, who is getting married this September, had asked Jena Marks to be her maid of honor.
The weekend before the crash, Jena Marks had visited Ambrose in Sacramento so they could go shop for the wedding dress and bridesmaids’ dresses.
“I was so grateful and so happy that she got a chance to be involved in that part,” Ambrose said.
Ambrose said she has to hold onto her memories of her friend as she moves ahead with her life.
There’s also the emotional process of planning for her wedding, without her friend by her side.
“She’ll be there in another way,” Ambrose said.
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From left, Jena Marks and her friend, Alexandra Ambrose. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Ambrose.