Three yellow petals lie in contrast with each dark blue chair they sat on in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

One petal for each student – Anusha Anumolu, Anitha Lakshmi Veerapaneni and Priya Darshini Muppavarapu.

A memorial service was held Monday night for the three international students that died in an early March 21 car crash near St. Louis.

Large photographs of the girls stood on easels at the front of the room with large strings of yellow flowers around each portrait.

Thoughts and memories were shared during the service from administrators, friends and family.

Netish Adusumilli, Veerapaneni’s fiancé and the only survivor of that car, was in attendance for the service.

Bill Elliot, director of International Admissions, began by saying Anumolu, Veerapaneni and Muppavarapu were students while here at Eastern.

“In their passing, they really became our teachers,” he said.

They taught us to cherish life because it is a fragile gift, he said.

“I hope we take that lesson back into our personal lives,” Elliot said.

As dean of the Graduate School, Robert Augustine serves the international community, and through that, he gets to meet and learn from the international students, such as Anumolu, Veerapaneni and Muppavarapu.

“They brought us their life, their light, their laughter,” he said.

He said the three students lived the motto “capture the day.”

“Today, we acknowledge what they lived and stood for – that every day is worth celebrating,” Augustine said.

All three were graduate students in the technology program, which was hit especially hard by their deaths.

Peter Ping Liu, graduate coordinator for the technology program, recounted the story of the three’s acceptance into Eastern.

Anumolu, Veerapaneni and Muppavarapu were attending Oklahoma City University but wanted to transfer to Eastern together.

Veerapaneni’s application was the first to be accepted since her application was sent in the earliest.

Anumolu’s followed later and resulted in the same conclusion.

Liu said he received a call from Muppavarapu then with Anumolu and Veerapaneni also on the line.

Muppavarapu knew the other two girls had been admitted.

“I would like to come as well,” she said. “Please do not leave me alone here.”

Liu said this call made him think of his daughter, who had recently moved into her own place.

“I feel lucky that my daughter was only four hours away,” he said.

Liu admired the courage of the three girls, to go to college so far away from home.

After the call, Liu said he could not sleep that night.

The next day, Muppavarapu’s application entered Eastern’s system.

After the three students arrived on campus, Liu said his first impression was of their “sweet smiles.”

“Those three smiles will remain in our memories for years to come,” he said.

Next to share her memories was Anupama Makineni, Anumolu’s roommate and neighbor to the other two.

Holding back tears, Makineni addressed the audience.

“I have had to (muster) a lot of courage to talk about this terrible loss,” she said.

She recounted the many times she spent with the three, cooking together, sharing thoughts and going out on the weekends.

“Even we used to buy similar clothing,” she said.

Makineni said she came out of her homesickness being around them.

“On March 21, my friendship with them came to an abrupt end because of this tragic incident,” she said.

Makineni then read a letter she received from Muppavarapu’s father on behalf of the family.

“Though we are very far from you . I am feeling as if I am with you,” he wrote.

In his e-mail, he requested people to make this a better place to live.

Addressing the police officer responsible for the crash, he said let this be reminder to all to not let frustration, carelessness and addictions result in a terrible loss like that of his daughter.

He said to instead, find a purpose and to spread the mission of his daughter and her friends’ own lives – to spread the power of positive thinking

Sailendra Veerapaneni, the uncle of Veerapaneni, spoke of his niece.

She fulfilled the wish of his wife of having a daughter even though that dream was short lived, he said.

“She dwells in our hearts forever,” he said.

He said his younger son asked the other day, “I have seen so many people come back to life in movies,” and asked his father if his cousin could do the same.

All Sailendra Veerapaneni could tell his son was no.

The ceremony came to a close with a moment of silence was held for the students before ending with a traditional Hindu grieving ritual.

The three petals were placed one-by-one by each audience member into a gold case by each student’s photograph.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].