Pastor: Morales' Life Cut Short, But Memory Lives On

Bubbly. Very loving. Extremely creative. Lived life to the fullest.

Family and friends have been using these words to describe 20-year-old Jessica Morales since she died in the Crestmoor fire last week while at her boyfriend's house at Earl Avenue and Glenview Drive.

Those words were repeated again tonight at the vigil for Morales at Duggan's Serra Mortuary in Daly City. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Joseph Ruigomez, 20, is still in critical condition at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.

The Rev. Mike Allen, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Francisco, led the service while Morales' family and friends filled the mortuary's chapel and vestibule to honor the young woman who aspired to be a fashion designer and who was remembered by the one thing that was constant in all of the photos of her that stood in the chapel: her big smile.

"People always said they remembered her bubbly personality. She was always happy. And there wasn't a lot that distracted her," Allen said. "School maybe wasn't her number one thing, but she loved being around people."

Morales' youngest brother, Isaiah, spoke of how she was always very supportive of him, even when he got on her nerves.

"She was the best sister I really could've asked for," he said, choking up on his words. Then he recalled the time Morales got upset with him for flirting with some of her friends, which led him to break into a smile.

As Allen reflected on Morales' life, he said some might wonder why her life was cut short so soon when she had so much ahead of her. Some might even want to blame God, he said.

But he said that, just as Jessica realized when she decided to become a Christian, he wanted people to be reminded that life was intended for God's glory. And no matter how long she lived, Allen said, her memory will now be cemented in the minds of all the people who witnessed last week's tragedy, which also speaks to God's glory.

Her memory made Steve Ashton, who was a teacher and administrator at San Francisco Christian School when Morales was a student there, look back on her school file when he heard that she had died in the fire.

As he went through her file, Ashton said, he noticed the same thing in every photograph.

"Every single year, she had a smile from ear to ear," he said. "It just goes to show you that life is too good."

Toward the end of the vigil, Martin Cantu and members of the contemporary Christian group L-Rey, backed by an acoustic guitar, sang two medleys requested by Jessica's mother, Rene.

Then people sat silent for a few moments, looking at a large photograph of Jessica above her casket, before gradually leaving the chapel.

A funeral Mass for Jessica Morales will be held at 7pm Saturday at Church of the Highlands.