Nastacia Voisin |
Last night, members of the UP community gathered in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher to mourn the death of Soren Bryan-Askay, an UP alum and night custodian, who passed away Tuesday, March 24. No cause of death was given.
Students, faculty and staff – including numerous members of the housekeeping and maintenance night crew – attended the prayer service, lighting candles and offering each other consolation.
Fr. James Rigert, chaplain for the Physical Plant, was the presider.
“It isn’t easy for us to understand what goes on in the hearts of those around us,” he said during the service.
He reminded those gathered in the Chapel that in our day-to-day interactions, it can be hard to discern what others are experiencing.
“Here was a person who was struggling, and we couldn’t know the difficulty he was in,” Rigert said of Soren.
Joining UP’s night custodian crew in January, Soren worked in Franz Hall. Peterson Luksh, lead custodian and his supervisor, said he remembered Soren as a friendly person with a willingness to work.
Soren’s father, Richard Askay, is a professor in the philosophy department, and his brother, William Bryan-Askay. works as an events technician in the Physical Plant.
During Wednesday’s Espresso UP, senior Eliva Gaona organized a card signing as a gesture of support for professor Askay. Community members signed the large sheet of paper with words of comfort and solidarity.
“I wanted to do something simple, something students could get involved with,” Gaona said. “I just provided the means, and let people do their thing.”
Students placed the card outside of the philosophy department hallway on the first floor of Buckley Center. Nastacia Voisin is a reporter and copy editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at voisin15@up.edu.
