SWAMPSCOTT -Friends and loved ones shocked by the sudden death of Swampscott High School graduate Jocelyn Callahan joined together in an outpouring of memories and love Tuesday as they struggle to come to terms with their loss.Callahan drowned early Monday morning after apparently falling in to the water near Salem’s South River Basin, not far from her 56 Peabody St. apartment, where she was walking to after a night out with her friends downtown.
Workers at the Shetland Park Office Complex called police around 7:30 Monday morning after they saw Callahan’s body floating in the Pickering Wharf area. Detectives found one of Callahan’s shoes on a sea wall along the South River Basin, and found other personal belongings in the water below.
Authorities are ruling the death an accidental drowning.
Described as an “elegant storm” and a “shining star,” the 2001 Swampscott graduate was remembered on her Myspace page Tuesday as friends and family recounted old stories and grieved over a future without their friend.
A woman who identified herself as Callahan’s aunt Jessica left an emotional post on the Web site remembering her niece.
?Why my beautiful niece who loved sparkly things and drew mermaids? who filled a room with her smile and laughter? the pain of losing you will never go away,” she wrote. “So blessed we all are for having you if even for a short time. Now you’re among the sparkly stars in the sky? I love you?”
Other friends remembered her as “one of a kind,” and chose to take a more uplifting stance on the tragedy.
?I am so glad you came in to my life and taught me what you know,” one post read.
?At least we know you will have people dancing wherever you are,” read another.
Students and staff at the New England Hair Academy in Malden, where Callahan studied, were overcome with emotion and struggling to come to terms with their loss Tuesday.
Janet Messina, who is known as Miss Janet to her students, was Callahan’s instructor. She said Callahan has been attending evening classes there since January.
?She was a darling,” she said. “It’s such a sad loss and it has affected us all very deeply. She was such a darling. She was very talented and loved to do hair. She had a lot of potential and (was) so smart. She was very popular and very well liked.”
Jackie Eichel, who used to live in Swampscott, said Callahan and her daughter, Lindsey Eichel-Hollett, were best friends growing up and the two had remained very close throughout the years.
?She was a vibrant, fun loving and very silly kid. She wore her heart on her sleeve,” Eichel said.
Eichel said Callahan loved hairdressing and was actually scheduled to cut her daughter’s hair the day she died.
Employees of the Gulu Gulu Café in Salem, where Callahan worked as a cook, were in shock Monday and immediately closed the restaurant upon hearing the news.
Gulu Gulu Manager Laura Walton described Callahan as a “free spirit” with her own sense of style.
?She was just so full of life,” she said. “She was always so bubbly.
She’s been working here about four months and the whole staff is really tight. We’re a close knit family.”
Callahan lived just a few blocks away from the restaurant in Salem’s point neighborhood, and was apparently taking a shortcut home when she fell in the water.
?She usually walked home,” she said. “She didn’t have a car. From what we know it was an accident. She just fell.”