Posted by Newspaper Transcriber on Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 14:33:19 :

Krista Michelle Jorgensen

Krista Michelle Jorgensen's family tried in vain to interest her in other areas of literary fantasy besides Harry Potter.

As a preteen, Miss Jorgensen, with grandmother Deborah Lagutaris of San Francisco, helped found a club in Half Moon Bay in July 2005 for her Potter-fan peers and their families.

"I'd like it if it had a fair amount of people and a bunch of activities," Miss Jorgensen once said of the club, which eventually numbered 15 Potterphiles from second grade to high school.

Curiosity, imagination, organizational smarts and an affinity for Harry's kind of spunk were typical of Miss Jorgensen, said her grandmother.

"I think it was Harry's attitude of going ahead and doing something, though he knew it would be dangerous and he knew he had to do it for other people's sake" that drew Miss Jorgensen to J.K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard.

Miss Jorgensen died July 13 due to T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. She was 13.

"She was very sweet. Very unassuming but she had leadership qualities," said Lagutaris. "She had a unique quality, like a charisma."

Miss Jorgensen was born June 1, 1993 in Tehachapi, Calif., where she lived all her life except for a year in Half Moon Bay with Lagutaris. She attended public school up to seventh grade, when she was home-schooled while ill.

Miss Jorgensen was interested in science, particularly biology, said her grandmother. She also enjoyed photography, taking pictures of family, animals and landscapes, and painting outdoor scenes in pastels, watercolor and acrylics. She also loved camping on the Kern River, hanging out with friends and holiday celebrations with family, including younger brothers, Wyatt and Cody, to whom she was a second mother, Lagutaris said.

"She was very bright, yet humble and down-to-earth," Lagutaris said. "She was curious about everything and yet still retained a childlike innocence rare nowadays."

Miss Jorgensen is survived by her parents, Wendy and Tony Jorgensen, and brothers Wyatt and Cody, of Tehachapi, grandparents Deborah Lagutaris of San Francisco, Jim and Sandi Ashton of Concord and Bob and Carol Jorgensen of Tehachapi, and great-grandparents Greg and Jean Lagutaris, Jerry and Jane Randazzo and Olga Jorgensen, all of Tehachapi, and Rose Clausse of Orland.

She is survived by aunts and uncles Patricia Klick of Cherry Valley, Scot Ashton of Greenville, N.C., Kimberly and Mike Worrell of Westminster, Mike and Candy Jorgensen and Tammy and Dave Camps, all of Bakersfield, and De and Dale Tracy of Orland.

She is also survived by cousins Theresa and Angel Figueroa and Sylvia and JR Towle and children of Alta Loma, Jennifer and Rich Quintero of Chico and Robin Rigney of Rohnert Park.

Funeral services were held July 19 at the Nazarene Church of Tehachapi, followed by interment at Tehachapi Cemetery.

Half Moon Bay Review and Pescadero Pebble, Wednesday, August 9, 2006