Lives Remembered
Friends and family share memories of lost students
Lauren Dillard
Issue date: 11/29/06 Section: News
Jeffrey Schmidt and Quinn Do Truong - who were dating - were traveling together when their car crashed into the North Umpqua River. Truong's body was found, while Schmidt is still missing. Police believe he drowned. This week, their friends and family spoke about the loved ones they lost.
He had spirit and drive, according to those who knew him. Jeffrey Schmidt, senior in geography and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member, is still missing after an accident on Highway 138 East.
Six fraternity members - Jordan Ehrlich, Ben Bullock, Jeff Hall, Kyle Kreml and John Anhorn - drove to the site and asked the Douglas County Sheriff's Office if they could help search.
They were directed to search an area along the roadside.
"We found his hat, his shirt and a water bottle," Lambda Chi Alpha member and sophomore in business Ben Bullock said.
During the fourth or fifth week of the term, a car was broken into in the parking lot of Schmidt's fraternity. Schmidt and Ehrlich, a senior in pre-health management, dressed in camouflage and hid in the parking lot to see if the thieves would return to the scene of the crime.
"They waited out there for 10 hours or so," Bullock said.
Schmidt, who had been involved in the Young Marines group through high school and who was a part of the Marine Platoon Leadership Corps., was fully prepared to camouflage himself to defend the parking lot.
"We have a common bond here," exercise and sports science major Kyle Kreml said of the fraternity. "He never took that bond for granted."
Schmidt was one of Kreml's good friends and was considered a go-to guy for members of Lambda Chi Alpha.
Kreml described bringing his problems to Schmidt: "Within seconds I'd forget about it. He made you forget everything. He had such a positive outlook on life."
Having a positive outlook, Schmidt was described as a leader and as someone who made others' lives better.
"I know he was really excited for this lacrosse season," Kreml said. "Unless there was some emergency that he couldn't go, he made it to every practice, even though he wasn't one of the starters." Schmidt was a member of the OSU Men's Club Lacrosse team.
"He loved to work out. He was far more disciplined than me in terms of that," Jeffrey's sister and OSU alumna Joanna Schmidt said.
"He was so excited to come to school. He was so excited to live in the dorms. He was excited to join the fraternity," Joanna Schmidt said, explaining that her brother was exuberant over every activity he became involved in.
Schmidt used humor to support his family. Joanna Schmidt said Jeffrey was funny "in all the right ways."
"He had a lot of friends, but he had a way of making everybody feel like they were the most important," Joanna Schmidt said. "He was an incredible brother."
Joanna Schmidt also explained that brotherhood - to his sister, to the Marines and to the fraternity - was an important thing to Jeffrey.
"Jeff is someone who is always down for whatever," Lambda Chi Alpha President John Rogers said in a prepared statement. "Whatever it was that needed to get done, he was always there to make sure it got done. If there was ever an issue that got out of hand, Jeff always did the right thing to get it going in the right direction. Motivated and dedicated to get things done, he has always had aspirations to make a difference in the things that he participates in."
Senior in international business and fraternity brother Ryan Churchill described Schmidt as "outdoorsy," "gung-ho" and as someone who was friends with everyone.
"He was one of my best friends," Churchill said.
"The first thing I noticed is when he had to drill our team around, this big voice came from this little guy," OSU Navy/Marine ROTC alumna Allison Lamb said. Lamb described Schmidt as tall but slender - he did not look as though he could command the team as well as he did.
Lamb and Schmidt were teammates on the OSU Navy/Marine ROTC freshman drill team, where Schmidt was appointed drill leader due to his Young Marine experience in high school.
"We were at a function, and he stopped me in the middle of the hall. He said, 'If you ever need me, I will come get you, if I have to swim, fly ...'" senior in political science and Lambda Chi Alpha member Kareem Walcott said. Walcott, who was Schmidt's initiation partner for Lambda Chi Alpha, described him as selfless. Walcott, who was involved in the fraternity members' search of the scene, wants Schmidt to know that he now has Schmidt's back.
"Whatever it takes," Walcott said.
"One of the first people to organize a search party (if a fraternity brother had been missing) would've been Schmitty," Bullock said. "He would do anything at the drop of a hat (for someone else). He would've gotten Quinn out. That would've been his priority."
Quinn Do Truong, a sophomore in merchandising management and a member of Delta Gamma sorority, had recently become Schmidt's girlfriend.
"Him and Quinn were the cutest couple I've ever seen. He really liked her," Bullock said.
"He always had a smile on his face at the same time he had a never-give-up attitude," Kreml said.
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is in the planning stages of memorial activities for Schmidt. The brothers plan on taking crosses to the accident site, as well as keeping his parking spot in the parking lot of Lambda Chi Alpha.
"My parents feel that he was just a really great son to them and for them," Joanna Schmidt said. "I think that most people will remember him as a funny guy."
---
A flip of the wrist and loud gangster-style "Holla!" announced the presence of Quinn Do Truong, a sophomore in merchandising management. She was an inspiration, a spontaneous friend and a charismatic volunteer who made a difference on Oregon State's campus, friends said this week.
"She got that from me," said Quinn's brother, 15-year-old Dan Truong, regarding the "Holla!" she often was heard saying.
"She always said 'Holla!' and 'D.P.,'" said UO sophomore Andrea Welsh. "D.P." stood for "dance party," said Welsh, who knew Quinn from cooperation between the student councils of Tigard and Tualatin high schools.
"I just sat down and 'oh!' we were friends," said Ashleigh Stroud, sophomore in zoology, member of Chi Omega and Quinn's best friend. Quinn and Stroud met in fifth grade. Stroud described herself as the "awkward new girl" whom Quinn made feel welcome.
"She always made everything fun," Stroud said. "She definitely was the kind of person you don't forget."
Saturday, the funeral service for Quinn became standing room only as many staff members from Tigard High School, community members and OSU students were present.
Described as quirky, personable, spontaneous, scholarly, outgoing and level-headed, Quinn was most commonly noted as being bubbly.
"Quinn honestly was the most bubbly, alive, free-spirited person I have ever known," sophomore in elementary education and Delta Gamma sorority member Stefani Swenson said.
"I didn't get a chance to learn more about her, which makes it hard," Quinn's sorority little sister Shaena Behbahany said. Behbahany and Quinn were both dating Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity members and planned to continue a tradition of double-dates.
"It's really hard to believe this lovable person is gone," Welsh said.
For sophomore Dede Burns-McLay, also a Delta Gamma sorority member, Quinn was a "huge support."
Quinn, who spoke to her family in their native tongue, Vietnamese, was very close to her mother, Dan Truong said.
"They would talk to each other like everyday," he said.
Because of her quirky personality, Quinn was constantly making others laugh.
"I would just look at her and say 'What are you doing?'" Stroud said. "She always made everything fun."
Stroud and Quinn lived together last year in a dorm and had spent the years before that watching Dawson's Creek, performing in school plays and getting involved in leadership.
"She walked away with new friends wherever she went," Stroud said.
"I am going to miss her a lot," McLay said.
Swenson said Quinn had a large collection of shoes.
"In her closet, on her hangers, outside her closet," Swenson said. The sorority found more than 30 pairs of shoes in her room. "She was a very short person, and she would also wear these really high heels. We would ask, 'Quinn, why don't you just wear flats?' And she would say, 'I have to measure up a little bit to you.'"
After winning a prestigious award from Fowler Middle School, Quinn became her freshman class president. She held the same office her junior and senior years as well.
"Quinn was leadership here," Edtl said. "Quinn was my whole life for four years. She was like my daughter."
Her sophomore year in high school, Quinn worked at Sears while volunteering to teach Vietnamese language skills to community members. She was also involved in track and field, National Honor Society, Red Cross Club, Students Today Aren't Ready for Sex, Key Club and two separate choirs, including a select choir called Choralation. She also held a red belt in Taekwondo.
She was awarded by the American Legion as outstanding eighth grade girl and by her peers with a Leadership Excellence Award. She attended Oregon Association of Student Councils summer camps and represented Tigard High at the National Association of Student Councils Convention the summer before her senior year.
"She had the mentality that she had to do the best she could do," Edtl said.
She was voted Most Likely to Become the Mayor of Tigard by her senior class.
"Quinn was a very special young lady that I miss immensely," Edtl said. "She was known for her beautiful smile, but she would cry at the drop of a hat too."
At OSU, Quinn was involved as an intern with ASOSU her freshman year. She worked with a task force to brainstorm ideas for new legislation for the university.
Quinn came up with an idea for flexible housing contracts for those who intended to rush as members of Greek life.
"If someone was having a bad day, she would just sit us down and say, 'Let's talk about it,'" Swenson said.
Quinn was a proud member of her sorority, where she found sisterhood with members like Swenson, McLay and Behbahany.
"She always did do the D.G. thing well," Stroud said, referring to the Delta Gamma pose that Quinn had mastered.
"It was nice to have her for so long, but it was not long enough," Stroud said.
"It really makes you evaluate how you look at life," Welsh said. "She lived it to the fullest extent, and it makes me want to do the same thing."
 Media Credit: Contributed by The Schmidt Family Jeffrey Schmidt |
 Media Credit: Contributed by Delta Gamma Sorority Quinn Do Truong |
He had spirit and drive, according to those who knew him. Jeffrey Schmidt, senior in geography and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member, is still missing after an accident on Highway 138 East.
Six fraternity members - Jordan Ehrlich, Ben Bullock, Jeff Hall, Kyle Kreml and John Anhorn - drove to the site and asked the Douglas County Sheriff's Office if they could help search.
They were directed to search an area along the roadside.
"We found his hat, his shirt and a water bottle," Lambda Chi Alpha member and sophomore in business Ben Bullock said.
During the fourth or fifth week of the term, a car was broken into in the parking lot of Schmidt's fraternity. Schmidt and Ehrlich, a senior in pre-health management, dressed in camouflage and hid in the parking lot to see if the thieves would return to the scene of the crime.
"They waited out there for 10 hours or so," Bullock said.
Schmidt, who had been involved in the Young Marines group through high school and who was a part of the Marine Platoon Leadership Corps., was fully prepared to camouflage himself to defend the parking lot.
"We have a common bond here," exercise and sports science major Kyle Kreml said of the fraternity. "He never took that bond for granted."
Schmidt was one of Kreml's good friends and was considered a go-to guy for members of Lambda Chi Alpha.
Kreml described bringing his problems to Schmidt: "Within seconds I'd forget about it. He made you forget everything. He had such a positive outlook on life."
Having a positive outlook, Schmidt was described as a leader and as someone who made others' lives better.
"I know he was really excited for this lacrosse season," Kreml said. "Unless there was some emergency that he couldn't go, he made it to every practice, even though he wasn't one of the starters." Schmidt was a member of the OSU Men's Club Lacrosse team.
"He loved to work out. He was far more disciplined than me in terms of that," Jeffrey's sister and OSU alumna Joanna Schmidt said.
"He was so excited to come to school. He was so excited to live in the dorms. He was excited to join the fraternity," Joanna Schmidt said, explaining that her brother was exuberant over every activity he became involved in.
Schmidt used humor to support his family. Joanna Schmidt said Jeffrey was funny "in all the right ways."
"He had a lot of friends, but he had a way of making everybody feel like they were the most important," Joanna Schmidt said. "He was an incredible brother."
Joanna Schmidt also explained that brotherhood - to his sister, to the Marines and to the fraternity - was an important thing to Jeffrey.
"Jeff is someone who is always down for whatever," Lambda Chi Alpha President John Rogers said in a prepared statement. "Whatever it was that needed to get done, he was always there to make sure it got done. If there was ever an issue that got out of hand, Jeff always did the right thing to get it going in the right direction. Motivated and dedicated to get things done, he has always had aspirations to make a difference in the things that he participates in."
Senior in international business and fraternity brother Ryan Churchill described Schmidt as "outdoorsy," "gung-ho" and as someone who was friends with everyone.
"He was one of my best friends," Churchill said.
"The first thing I noticed is when he had to drill our team around, this big voice came from this little guy," OSU Navy/Marine ROTC alumna Allison Lamb said. Lamb described Schmidt as tall but slender - he did not look as though he could command the team as well as he did.
Lamb and Schmidt were teammates on the OSU Navy/Marine ROTC freshman drill team, where Schmidt was appointed drill leader due to his Young Marine experience in high school.
"We were at a function, and he stopped me in the middle of the hall. He said, 'If you ever need me, I will come get you, if I have to swim, fly ...'" senior in political science and Lambda Chi Alpha member Kareem Walcott said. Walcott, who was Schmidt's initiation partner for Lambda Chi Alpha, described him as selfless. Walcott, who was involved in the fraternity members' search of the scene, wants Schmidt to know that he now has Schmidt's back.
"Whatever it takes," Walcott said.
"One of the first people to organize a search party (if a fraternity brother had been missing) would've been Schmitty," Bullock said. "He would do anything at the drop of a hat (for someone else). He would've gotten Quinn out. That would've been his priority."
Quinn Do Truong, a sophomore in merchandising management and a member of Delta Gamma sorority, had recently become Schmidt's girlfriend.
"Him and Quinn were the cutest couple I've ever seen. He really liked her," Bullock said.
"He always had a smile on his face at the same time he had a never-give-up attitude," Kreml said.
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is in the planning stages of memorial activities for Schmidt. The brothers plan on taking crosses to the accident site, as well as keeping his parking spot in the parking lot of Lambda Chi Alpha.
"My parents feel that he was just a really great son to them and for them," Joanna Schmidt said. "I think that most people will remember him as a funny guy."
A flip of the wrist and loud gangster-style "Holla!" announced the presence of Quinn Do Truong, a sophomore in merchandising management. She was an inspiration, a spontaneous friend and a charismatic volunteer who made a difference on Oregon State's campus, friends said this week.
"She got that from me," said Quinn's brother, 15-year-old Dan Truong, regarding the "Holla!" she often was heard saying.
"She always said 'Holla!' and 'D.P.,'" said UO sophomore Andrea Welsh. "D.P." stood for "dance party," said Welsh, who knew Quinn from cooperation between the student councils of Tigard and Tualatin high schools.
"I just sat down and 'oh!' we were friends," said Ashleigh Stroud, sophomore in zoology, member of Chi Omega and Quinn's best friend. Quinn and Stroud met in fifth grade. Stroud described herself as the "awkward new girl" whom Quinn made feel welcome.
"She always made everything fun," Stroud said. "She definitely was the kind of person you don't forget."
Saturday, the funeral service for Quinn became standing room only as many staff members from Tigard High School, community members and OSU students were present.
Described as quirky, personable, spontaneous, scholarly, outgoing and level-headed, Quinn was most commonly noted as being bubbly.
"Quinn honestly was the most bubbly, alive, free-spirited person I have ever known," sophomore in elementary education and Delta Gamma sorority member Stefani Swenson said.
"I didn't get a chance to learn more about her, which makes it hard," Quinn's sorority little sister Shaena Behbahany said. Behbahany and Quinn were both dating Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity members and planned to continue a tradition of double-dates.
"It's really hard to believe this lovable person is gone," Welsh said.
For sophomore Dede Burns-McLay, also a Delta Gamma sorority member, Quinn was a "huge support."
Quinn, who spoke to her family in their native tongue, Vietnamese, was very close to her mother, Dan Truong said.
"They would talk to each other like everyday," he said.
Because of her quirky personality, Quinn was constantly making others laugh.
"I would just look at her and say 'What are you doing?'" Stroud said. "She always made everything fun."
Stroud and Quinn lived together last year in a dorm and had spent the years before that watching Dawson's Creek, performing in school plays and getting involved in leadership.
"She walked away with new friends wherever she went," Stroud said.
"I am going to miss her a lot," McLay said.
Swenson said Quinn had a large collection of shoes.
"In her closet, on her hangers, outside her closet," Swenson said. The sorority found more than 30 pairs of shoes in her room. "She was a very short person, and she would also wear these really high heels. We would ask, 'Quinn, why don't you just wear flats?' And she would say, 'I have to measure up a little bit to you.'"
After winning a prestigious award from Fowler Middle School, Quinn became her freshman class president. She held the same office her junior and senior years as well.
"Quinn was leadership here," Edtl said. "Quinn was my whole life for four years. She was like my daughter."
Her sophomore year in high school, Quinn worked at Sears while volunteering to teach Vietnamese language skills to community members. She was also involved in track and field, National Honor Society, Red Cross Club, Students Today Aren't Ready for Sex, Key Club and two separate choirs, including a select choir called Choralation. She also held a red belt in Taekwondo.
She was awarded by the American Legion as outstanding eighth grade girl and by her peers with a Leadership Excellence Award. She attended Oregon Association of Student Councils summer camps and represented Tigard High at the National Association of Student Councils Convention the summer before her senior year.
"She had the mentality that she had to do the best she could do," Edtl said.
She was voted Most Likely to Become the Mayor of Tigard by her senior class.
"Quinn was a very special young lady that I miss immensely," Edtl said. "She was known for her beautiful smile, but she would cry at the drop of a hat too."
At OSU, Quinn was involved as an intern with ASOSU her freshman year. She worked with a task force to brainstorm ideas for new legislation for the university.
Quinn came up with an idea for flexible housing contracts for those who intended to rush as members of Greek life.
"If someone was having a bad day, she would just sit us down and say, 'Let's talk about it,'" Swenson said.
Quinn was a proud member of her sorority, where she found sisterhood with members like Swenson, McLay and Behbahany.
"She always did do the D.G. thing well," Stroud said, referring to the Delta Gamma pose that Quinn had mastered.
"It was nice to have her for so long, but it was not long enough," Stroud said.
"It really makes you evaluate how you look at life," Welsh said. "She lived it to the fullest extent, and it makes me want to do the same thing."
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