Countywide : Service Planned for Medical Student

A memorial service will be held in Santa Ana on Saturday for Rosemarie Maldonado, a 21-year-old UC Irvine premed student killed in a car accident while on her way to volunteer at a medical clinic in Mexico.

Maldonado died in September when the car she and a group of other premed students were riding in tumbled out of control and crashed. The volunteer group was from the student chapter of the Flying Samaritans, who were en route to a medical clinic in the small village of El Testorazo, about 27 miles south of Tecate on the Mexican border, when the crash occurred.

“We’re planning to have the memorial service as a joyous occasion,” said the victim’s father, David Maldonado. “It’s a way for her family, her friends and the community to recognize her. She meant so much to her community and the students she knew.”

Maldonado was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Orange within a few days after the accident. However, her father said it wasn’t until weeks later that the family learned about her numerous volunteer activities. In addition to helping at the Mexican medical clinic, she was a volunteer at convalescent homes and was active with school groups.

The memorial service will be at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 1101 Center St., Santa Ana.