Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
CASTLE DALE, Emery County — There is shock and devastation in central Utah after a high school senior was killed while tubing with her friends on what was planned to be a fun group date for a school's winter formal.
Kirsten Beagley, 18, was tubing with her friends Saturday at a popular sledding hill at the Cleveland Reservoir area of Huntington Canyon in Emery County when her tube went onto the road.
"It's heart-wrenching. Nothing prepares you for something like this," Kyle Beagley, Kirsten's dad, said.
"I think the word is just heartbroken. That's what I've heard a lot of people say, that their hearts are broken, and that's, that's what we feel right now," Janell Beagley, Kirsten's mom, said.
"She's just the happiest person ever. She always had a smile on her face. She loved spending time with her family and her friends. She was always ready to go on an adventure," Kirsten's older sister, Jannika Beagley, said.
"Just to see her for a minute, on Saturday morning. And then it's just, it's kind of hard to grasp (that she's gone)," said Clarrissa Beagley, another sister.
Kirsten Beagley was with a group of four couples on a group date for Emery High School's winter formal, scheduled to take place this Saturday.
According to the Emery County Sheriff's Office, she was on an inner tube with another girl when it went too far and onto the road.
"It was nothing that they did wrong or anything. They're just tubing down that hill and went too fast and went over the first snowbank and onto the asphalt," Sheriff Tyson Huntington told KSL-TV.
She died on scene from what is believed to be a neck or head injury. She was a young woman who was known and loved by all in the small community of Castle Dale, including the sheriff.
"Huge loss of a beautiful, smart, capable young woman, bright future," Huntington said.
It's that community's love and the Beagleys' faith in God that is holding them together.
"Everybody's reaching out, embracing us, putting their arms around us," Kyle Beagley said. "We love our Savior, and we truly believe in him. We have a deep faith and conviction that we will be with Kirsten again. Though it really hurts right now, and it's going to hurt for a long time, but we can be with her again."
"She's in the loving arms of other of our family members that have passed away, and that's a great comfort to us," Janell Beagley said.
The Beagleys are also heartbroken over her friends witnessing such a tragedy.
"I just put my arms around them, and I told them thank you for being there for her because they did. They did everything they could to help her and they were right there with her. They just loved her. We just really appreciate that," Janell Beagley said.
