McCluskey’s life to be celebrated Sunday

ISAAC SEMMLER, Evergreen reporter

A celebration of life for Lauren McCluskey will be open to the public from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Event Center.

McCluskey, a native of Pullman and former track star at Pullman High School and University of Utah, was fatally shot on Oct. 22 by 37-year-old Melvin Rowland.

According to a family statement on University of Utah’s high alert website, McCluskey was a model student excelling on and off the field with a cumulative GPA of 3.75 through her senior year. She applied for graduation in the spring of 2019 and was on track to receive her bachelor’s degree in communication from Utah.

McCluskey volunteered at the Whitman County Humane Society and for the Special Olympics, and graduated from Pullman High School with honors, according to her obituary.

“Lauren was an outstanding student, she loved to sing and had the strength of determination and was excited to graduate in the spring. She was dearly loved and will be deeply missed,” Jill McCluskey, Lauren’s mother and a professor at WSU, wrote on Twitter.

Several University of Utah officials will attend the event including President Ruth Watkins who will speak at the celebration.