Friends Remember Mall Worker Woman’s Death May Help Prevent Others

In a funeral chapel filled with the fragrance of flowers, more than 150 people bid Shannon Wilhelm farewell.

Wilhelm, 19, was killed last week when a pickup struck her as she crossed the street at the Factory Outlets mall.

The crossing where Wilhelm was killed had been marked only with yellow warning signs. After her death, friends marked it with flowers.

Friends and family overflowed the English Funeral Chapel where Wilhelm’s memorial service was held Thursday morning.

“Your presence is a testimony to Shannon,” the Rev. Ashley Day, Wilhelm’s pastor, told the standing-room only crowd.

“We’re all here this morning with a deep sense of shock that a life so promising would end so abruptly,” Day said, before reassuring the grieving that Wilhelm is in “God’s heavenly city.”

Wilhelm was a born-again Christian who attended summer Bible camp as a youngster and worshipped at Coeur d’Alene Bible Church.

Among the many people straining to listen from the lobby of the chapel was Mayor Jim Hammond, who has asked the city engineer to devise a better solution for crossing West Riverbend Avenue between the outlet stores.

Also in attendance were Post Falls School Board chairman Kevin Schneidmiller, school principals, administrators and teachers.

Wilhelm’s mother, Linda Wilhelm, is the receptionist at school district headquarters, and is known for her unfailing cheer and courtesy.

“Shannon had that same spirit,” recalled school administrator Becky Ford.

Some of Shannon Wilhelm’s teachers attended the service, too. An avid quilter, Wilhelm made a baby quilt for one teacher’s baby son, a friend said. She excelled in math and was known for her love of creative writing, Day said.

“From early childhood, she was a sensitive, artistic girl,” Day said. “She was always aware of the beauty around her.”

Day read aloud Wilhelm’s poem about peace:

“Seen only as a dove, slowly soaring, heard only as a rushing stream, the smell of rain, quietly falling, felt only when I dream.”

While at Post Falls High School, Wilhelm volunteered in the Alzheimer’s ward at Sunset Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. She graduated in 1995 and was an assistant manager at Bannister Shoe outlet store.

“This meant she had to overcome a natural shyness because of her sweet personality,” Day said.

In the lobby of the funeral home, easels held a collection of photos of Wilhelm and her 1-year-old daughter, Alyssa. Some showed the blonde, blue-eyed Shannon in tie-dyed T-shirts, laughing with friends. Others showed her in formal wear, posing with her boyfriend.

“She always listened to me and could melt my heart with just one look,” Wilhelm’s boyfriend, Bill Smith, wrote for Day to share with the mourners.

When the brief ceremony ended, the parking lot emptied, and only close family and friends took part in a processional through the snow flurries to Evergreen Cemetery.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: REACTION The fatal accident prompted Post Falls city and outlet mall officials to re-examine the pedestrian crossings between the two strips of outlet stores, which mall workers said are notoriously dangerous. Shannon Wilhelm was hit at dusk by a driver who said he did not see her.