By Margaret McKenzie Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — It was a sight you don’t often see at a cemetery: a group of smiling people bearing balloons, gifts and a large birthday cake.
Most of the several dozen people arriving at Ocean View Cemetery on West 18th Street were wearing purple.
The balloons, the cake and some of the Beanie Baby stuffed animals they were carrying were purple, too.
That’s because it was Jennifer Pimentel’s favorite color.
Tuesday would have been the Port Angeles woman’s 28th birthday.
Pimentel, who was developmentally disabled, was killed last October.
Her body was found in the woods near the Hood Canal Bridge in Jefferson County.
Trials have been set for two local people: Kevin A. Bradfield, 23, and Kendell K. Huether, 26, who are accused, respectively, of first-degree murder and rendering criminal assistance in Pimentel’s strangulation death.
But Tuesday evening, with an almost full moon starting to poke through a patch of clouds overhead, Jennifer’s sister, Naveire Pimentel of Tacoma, preferred to dwell on the positive.
The 30-year-old, who organized Tuesday’s combined memorial and celebration, said birthdays were her sister’s favorite celebration.
“Her birthday started in July and lasted straight through to November,” Naveire Pimentel said.
“And purple was her favorite color,” added Jennifer Pimentel’s fiance, Michael Malvey, 32, of SeaTac.
Jennifer’s aunt, Kristi Pimentel of Seattle, baked a large cake with a Beanie Baby etched in icing.
A cluster of purple balloons were released into the night sky in Jennifer’s memory.
Asked to describe Jennifer, Malvey said if you came in contact with her, “she’d touch your life. ”
Still referring to her daughter in the present tense, Jennifer’s mother, Tonya Bailey of Tacoma, added, “She likes to talk to everyone and anyone.”
Why the Beanie Babies?
Because Jennifer loved animals, especially her cat, Jasmine, which is now in Malvey’s care.
A bench at the Port Angeles Humane Society is dedicated to Jennifer’s memory, Malvey said.
They met when Jennifer was an intern at the Boys & Girls Club of Port Angeles and he was a volunteer.
Asked what he would remember most about his fiancee, he said: “Her smile. And her voice. She sang great.”
Pimentel was very active in her church, Bethany Pentecostal in Port Angeles, before moving to SeaTac.
“I still can’t believe she’s gone,” Malvey said, tears in his eyes. “Sometimes I’ll catch myself dialing her number.”
Pimentel’s headstone shows a picture of a smiling young woman, with the epitaph: “Love you all/texts me back.”
News Editor Margaret McKenzie can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5064, or at mmckenzie@soundpublishing.com.
