Recent Yale Grad Dies in Car Crash: Her Profound, Final Daily News Column Passed Around on Twitter

Marina Keegan was in the passenger seat of her boyfriend’s Lexus when he lost control at the wheel and the vehicle rolled over twice after slamming into a guardrail. While speed and seat belts were ruled out as issues, the crash claimed 22-year-old Keegan’s life at the scene in Cape Cod on Saturday.

As a recent Yale Grad, Keegan was known for her prolific writing and activism, and she had an editorial assistant position waiting for her at The New Yorker. During college, Keegan was the president of the Yale College Democrats, a leader of Occupy Wall Street protests on the campus, and playwright, with her folk musical, “Independents,”  set to run at the New York International Fringe Festival in August.

Since the news of her tragic death went public, Keegan’s last column for the Yale Daily News started to make the rounds on Twitter, eliciting a viral reaction from friends and strangers who mourned the young woman’s bright future and celebrated her impressive accomplishments.

Keegan wrote “The Opposite of Loneliness” for a special edition of the News that was distributed at the 2012 commencement ceremonies.

We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time. There’s this sentiment I sometimes sense, creeping in our collective conscious as we lay alone after a party, or pack up our books when we give in and go out – that it is somehow too late. That others are somehow ahead. More accomplished, more specialized. More on the path to somehow saving the world, somehow creating or inventing or improving. That it’s too late now to BEGIN a beginning and we must settle for continuance, for commencement.

The Yale Daily News has also taken to the Internet to express grief for Keegan:

Marina’s death comes at a time when the members of the class of 2012 have separated for the foreseeable future, and underclassmen have scattered for the summer. There is no physical space for us to mourn this loss. What we do have is virtual space.

To honor Marina’s life, we are asking students to share memories of her with the News — funny stories, lasting impressions, lessons from a woman gone so young…To submit a memory of Marina, email it to [email protected]. We will accept submissions through Friday.

It is apparent that Keegan’s profound words will continue to hold weight even after her tragic passing.