Small Wine Country College Mourns Chinese Student's Death

ANGWIN (CBS SF) – Students at Pacific Union College were in mourning Tuesday for a classmate who was killed in a solo-vehicle crash near St. Helena.

On the school's Facebook page, Vice President For Student Services Lisa Bissell Paulson said Fen Pan's spirit will be missed.

"Our campus community is saddened by the loss of our dear, sweet Fen Pan," she wrote. "Her love for life was contagious amongst her family and friends. Her beautiful smile, her ability to connect and make close, lifelong friends, and her genuine commitment to loved ones will always be a cherished memory."

Fen Pen grew up in Beijing and was studying music and pre-dentistry.

"The atmosphere at PUC is very sad right now as Monday was the first day of the spring quarter, and this is a rather tragic way to begin this final quarter of an otherwise very positive school year," college president Heather J. Knight told the Adventist Review.

On Monday night, members of the campus gathered in pray. Students wrote personal messages and prayers and pinned them to a symbolic cross located in the front of the Seventh-Day Adventist school's chapel.

CHP Officer Marc Renspurger said Pan was one of seven occupants between 19 and 22 years old who were in a 2004 Ford Expedition raveling north on Deer Park Road just south of Sunnyside Drive in unincorporated Napa County around 1:50 p.m. Monday.

The SUV driver, Issac Soon Hwang, 21, of Chino, made an unsafe turning movement that allowed the Ford to drift onto the right shoulder and strike a boulder, Renspurger said.

Pan, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected when the vehicle overturned.

She was pronounced dead by emergency medical responders at 2:04 p.m., sheriff's Capt. Steve Blower said.

The other occupants suffered minor injuries and were taken to Santa Rosa and St. Helena hospitals and the Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa.

Blower said there have been several fatal accidents on Deer Park Road that leads to the college, often at a hairpin turn known as Devil's Elbow. The fatal crash Monday was further away, he said.

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