A Fresno City College student joined friends and supporters to honor her mother in a candlelight vigil on Saturday at the Tower District.
Lisa Gilvary, also an FCC student, died from stab wounds she suffered on Sept. 5 when Michael Crockell, a homeless man with a violent criminal record, allegedly assaulted her, stabbing her numerous times.
Two others, Jennifer Gonzales – who resided in Gilvary’s apartment and Jonathon Linzey, the Fresno police officer who responded to the scene, also suffered multiple stab wounds. Gonzales and Linzey are recovering from the injuries they sustained.
Gilvary and her daughter, Katie Lung, 21, were currently enrolled at FCC. “She was just a few credits shy of receiving her [paralegal] certificate,” Lung said of her now deceased mother.
Katie strives to complete her coursework but says that losing her mother so tragically makes things harder. “We had a class right next to each other on Wednesdays,” Lung said. “It’s hard. There are a lot of recent memories there just walking past.”
Friends and neighbors remembered Gilvary as woman who gave unconditionally to others and as one with an open and giving heart. Many spoke about how she cooked and fed needy individuals throughout the Tower District.
Lung said Saturday’s vigil was a moment of realization and that she is determined to carry on the spirit of her mother’s good deeds and public service.
“The community in the Tower District has just stepped forward and really helped to make me realize all the great things my mom did for them,” she said. “Some people knew her and had a lot of memories of her. Some people just met her, and some people didn’t know her at all and just wanted to show support.”
Lung also said she plans to continue her mother’s work helping Fresno’s homeless.
“I want to build a ‘Lisa Gilvary’ foundation. My mom would be so proud. She would love that,” she said. “I’ve also talked with some local businesses in the Tower District about doing a ‘Lisa Gilvary’ food drive in the wintertime; where people can bring canned goods or jackets… where they can donate food in her memory and know that it’s going to go where it should go.”
Since the dilemma of caring for the community’s most desperate has shifted to individuals and their families, foundations and public services are in greater need. Lung aims to reduce this trend.
“I see it a lot of it in the homeless community,” Lung said. “I’m sure that a lot of them have health issues or issues in general that they can’t get resources because they don’t have a job, they’re homeless, they don’t have an address and they don’t have a phone.”
Lung vows to stay productive and confident in the face of tragedy.
“My mom wouldn’t want me to be angry and my mom wouldn’t want me to wish [Crockell] harm,” she said. “I can’t find it in myself to wish him to be dead or wish him to get the death penalty.”
When discussing her mother’s alleged assailant, Lung said, “As it looks, he did have mental illnesses, and it’s unfortunate,” she said. It’s unfortunate on his part and it’s unfortunate on my mom’s part,” she said. “I know justice will stand up for itself and stand up for what’s right.”
Gilvary is remembered a generous and loving human being. Lung is now committed to serving the underprivileged as her mother did throughout her adult life.
“From here, I just think it can only get better,” she said “By giving back to the community and planning ahead on what I can do as a person to help others, it keeps my mind centered and focused…”
