Woman killed in car crash spread joy through social media

KELOWNA – Joselyn Casavant’s Facebook status updates were "hilarious," according to one of her hundreds of friends.

The 21-year-old who died after being hit head-on by a speeding Honda on McCurdy Road last weekend is being remembered by family and friends as someone who genuinely cared about making other people happy.

Anthony Kuchma, 23, first met JoJo, as she was called, back in high school. Casavant was two years younger than he was. He fell in love with one of her two sisters, Kristen, and the high school sweethearts were married shortly after graduation.

Kuchman considered Casavant a sister.

“The greatest sorrow for me is that she won’t be the aunt of my children," he says. "She would have been the best aunt.”

Kuchma says he gets some small comfort from the legacy of funny and original Facebook updates she regularly posted.

“She was hilarious,” he says. “She was always making people laugh. That’s something we all really miss.”

Kuchma describes Casavant as fun and warm — someone who wore bright colours and touched the lives of everyone she met. The youngest of two sisters, she is mourned by her parents Brian and Jane as well as hundreds of others who were lucky enough to know her.

“It’s just the kind of person that she was,” he says. “Even people who only met her once are saying how much impact she had on them. She really has challenged those of us who are left behind to live a life which impacts people in a positive way.”

Casavant grew up in Kelowna but was born in Prince George. She graduated from the Heritage Christian School in 2011 and began working at a Kelowna gas station.

“Her parents are so proud of the woman she became and loved her so much,” Kuchma says. “She had no regrets. She lived life to the fullest and she was doing what she was supposed to do."

"We are all Christian so we are confident JoJo is up in heaven smiling. That gives us a huge joy.”

There will be an open casket viewing at Springfield Funeral Home Friday, May 29 from 7 to 8 p.m. and a burial ceremony at Lakeview Cemetery Saturday, May 30 at 9:30 a.m.

Following the interment will be a celebration of life service at Kelowna Christian Centre at 11 a.m. The public is invited to attend the service and encouraged wear bright colours and sunglasses in her honour.

For more information visit the memorial Facebook page.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.