Silence, sniffles, sobs and some laughs. These were the sounds of the candlelight vigil held Wednesday night in honor of Katie McGuire.

McGuire’s Alpha Delta Pi sorority sisters, friends, co-workers and acquaintances gathered at 8 p.m. on the Quad in remembrance of the 20-year-old junior in Media who was killed in a car crash Monday night.

Silence, sniffles, sobs and some laughs. These were the sounds of the candlelight vigil held Wednesday night in honor of Katie McGuire.

McGuire’s Alpha Delta Pi sorority sisters, friends, co-workers and acquaintances gathered at 8 p.m. on the Quad in remembrance of the 20-year-old junior in Media who was killed in a car crash Monday night.

“This is about remembering,” said Shannon Sandoval, chapter advisor for Alpha Delta Pi. “It’s about grieving and its about healing and coming together and just trying to be supportive for one another.”

The sorority held a private vigil at the chapter’s house Tuesday night, but opened Wednesday’s candlelight ceremony to the entire Greek community and anyone on campus who knew McGuire, said Jamie Postlewait, senior in Business and president of Alpha Delta Pi.

“I’m really proud of the way our entire chapter is pulling together to band together and support each other in this difficult time,” Postlewait said. “It’s always tragic to lose someone, especially one of our sisters.”

Postlewait said McGuire was active as the sorority’s assistant social chair and also a frequent participant in chapter events.

“We were in same pledge class together,” said Christina Dracopoulos, junior in LAS and social chair of Alpha Delta Pi. “We worked together a lot for social activities.”

A crowd of about 300 people stood in near silence before candles were lit. Members of the crowd cried, hugged and laughed a few times as a co-worker from Joe’s Brewery and four close friends told stories about McGuire and her personality.

“She was really bubbly and super fun and really outgoing,” Dracopoulos said. “She was always really nice, always had a smile on her face. That was how she was as a person.”

Dracopoulos said she and her fellow sorority members plan to help each other through the next few days by attending Katie’s wake and funeral together.

“We’re all carpooling and heading up to the wake and the funeral on Friday and Saturday,” Dracopoulos said. “And I know we talked about possibly getting a bus for the sorority to go up there together.”

After the speeches concluded, much of the crowd stood quietly holding candles and shielding the flames from the night breeze. Gradually, those gathered put out their candles and returned them to a basket next to a poster memorial with photos of Katie. By 9 p.m. only a small fraction of the crowd still lingered.

Visitation for Katie is scheduled to take place from 3-9 p.m. Friday at Smith-Corcoran Chapel in Chicago. Her funeral is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home with a mass to follow at St. Hillary Church in Chicago and interment at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Ill.