Flowers lined a makeshift memorial to Emma Purdie in her hometown of Peterborough within a day of her death. Tea light candles were arranged in the infinity symbol, a reference to a tattoo on Emma’s arm.

The tattoo was comprised of the infinity sign and the word ‘young,’ representing the phrase ‘forever young’; according to those who knew Emma, it was a phrase that perfectly characterized her.

Emma, ArtSci ’15, died on July 13 after a fall from a parking garage in Peterborough. She was 20.

Her mother, Barb Purdie, said Emma was always optimistic and was passionate about “anything that was fun.”

“She really loved dance and she loved theatre and she really liked to be involved, to be busy and doing something all the time,” she said.

“She taught dance to really little kids and she loved that as well.”

Emma took up dancing at age three and had tried many styles, including jazz, ballet, hip-hop and lyrical.

“It was really part of who she was.”

Emma also loved the outdoors; she attended Camp Kawartha and had participated in their Leader in Training program to become a camp counsellor.

Emma planned on majoring in politics and Barb said she was particularly interested in the social determinants of health and poverty.

She was set to move into a house in Kingston in the fall with friends.

“The three girls just gelled amazingly,” Barb said. “She was an amazing person. She touched so many lives.”

Emma’s impact was especially felt on the Queen’s Dance Pack. In the week following her death, members of the group posted tributes to their beloved teammate on the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation website.

The tributes spoke of a girl who loved life, brightened any room she entered and had a “contagious laugh”; it’s that laugh that runs through most of team captain Samantha Dick’s memories of Emma.

“It was so distinctive and she was so carefree. She would laugh louder than everyone just because she enjoyed laughing so much,” Dick, ArtSci’13, said.

Dick said her teammate and friend, who also participated in the Vogue Charity Fashion Show, was the most outgoing member of the Dance Pack.

“That’s saying a lot considering we’re a dance pack,” she said. “She was hilarious, the funniest girl in the world.

“Everyone on the exec panel, we all remember her audition. She was right in the front and she had her hair back, and she had these big blonde curls and the biggest smile you’ve ever seen, and she knew the dance right away,” Dick said.

Dick remembers a time close to competition when stress levels were high, the team was exhausted and overworked and a couple of the team members were fighting. She arranged for the group to meet under the guise of a practice and instead took them to see the film Footloose.

“I just remember Emma being so, so excited,” Dick said. “She was like, ‘everyone is so stressed and it’s just such a good opportunity for everyone to just love each other again.’

“I had to keep telling her to laugh quieter because she kept laughing so loud at some parts and everyone kept looking at us.”

In September, the Dance Pack members will put the infinity symbol and the number 87 on the sleeves of their uniforms. 87 was Emma’s uniform number.

“The tattoo fit her perfectly. She just loved her youth, loved to explore and experience,” Dick said. “She was definitely the type of person who liked to really live every day, to squeeze every last drop out of every day.”

A memorial was planned for Emma on July 28 in Peterborough.

— Holly Tousignant

Students can contact Health, Counselling and Disability Services at 613-533-6000 ext. 78264