Santa Cruz resident Jared Jenkins never learned that he had passed the national exam to become a paramedic.
“He never got home to check his mail,” his mother, Alexis Jenkins, said. “He never knew.”
Jenkins was killed in a drunken-driving accident east of Bakersfield last week, just days after he took and passed the test to become an emergency medical technician.
The 2003 Santa Cruz High graduate, who attended Bonny Doon Elementary School, died after the 2005 Toyota pickup driven by a friend rolled off a steep embankment east of Bakersfield at 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 17.
Jenkins, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the front seat and died from his injuries.
According to California Highway Patrol in Kern County, the driver, Caleb Walker, 31, of Harrison, Ariz., showed signs of being under the influence of alcohol and was arrested at the scene after sustaining minor injuries. A 23-year-old woman was uninjured in the crash.
Jenkins was well-known in the Bonny Doon community, and more than 400 people, including many of his elementary school teachers, attended his memorial service Sunday, Aug. 23.
The Jenkins family has received an outpouring of support since their son’s death.
“Everybody’s kind of broken-hearted,” his father, Jerry Jenkins, said. “I just feel there’s a part of me that’s gone.”
Jenkins was a certified scuba diver and an avid surfer who shaped his own boards. He was also a category-5 whitewater rafting guide, a summer job he loved.
“He didn’t spend much time indoors,” Jerry said. “When he did, it was to use the restroom, and that was only on special occasions.”
Jenkins had recently been talking with his girlfriend, Claire Steusloff, about marriage.
The last time he was in Bonny Doon was spent helping his mother, Alexis, evacuate the family’s animals and belongings from their home during the Lockheed Fire.
The day before the accident, Jenkins had taken a whitewater rafting trip on the Tuolumne River and was planning to hike Mount Whitney.
“He lived his life really large,” his father said. “There was not anything he did that he didn’t do 130 percent.”
