Gilroy Mourns Loss Of 'Very, Very Well-Loved' Natalia Salcido

A high school and tight-knit community are mourning a Gilroy girl who died in a car crash on Saturday.

Natalia Salcido, 15, was a passenger in a car that crashed into a tree in the 6300 block of Miller Avenue in Gilroy around 10 p.m. Saturday, police said. The two other teens in the car were able to walk away from the crashed car without injuries, but Natalia suffered major trauma and was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police.

She was a sophomore at Christopher High School in Gilroy, where she was an honors student, cheerleader and member of the Associated Student Body leadership group, school principal Paul Winslow said.

“She was very, very well-loved among students and staff here,” Winslow said.

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More than 1,000 people attended a sunset vigil Monday night at the school’s football stadium, where Winslow, Natalia’s dad and friends made remarks.

“Natalia had dreams, had potential, she had everything going for her, but sadly it was all taken from her,” Winslow said Monday.

Some of the students who spoke at the vigil said they knew Natalia since she was 4 years old and described her as “almost like a sister,” Winslow said.

The family is holding a noon memorial service for Natalia at the school’s gym this Sunday, on what would have been her 16th birthday, Winslow said.

The school is offering grief counseling for students this week to cope with Natalia’s passing, according to Winslow.

“For a lot of these kids, this is their first experience with death that actually relates to them,” he said.

Dawn LaHue Guillen, a family friend of Natalia’s, said the death has “rocked everybody to their very core.” “She is just the sweetest girl and touched everybody,” Guillen said.

Natalia is survived by her parents and younger sister, she said.

Natalia recently became a part of the high school’s varsity cheerleading squad and aspired to become captain next year, according to Guillen.

“She was a shining light on the campus,” Guillen said.

Guillen has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for the 15-year-old’s funeral expenses.

The fundraiser had reached $3,910 of its $5,000 goal as of early this afternoon. Donations can be made online at http://www.gofundme.com/u7n9z8.

--Bay City News

--Image courtesy of Memorial fund for Natalia