A memorial service was held Feb. 13 at Reynolds Alumni Center for Kui Zou, a scholar from China who was killed in a car accident Jan. 22. Family, friends and students along with faculty members attended the service and took turns sharing memories of Zou with others.

Zou was born in Hunan Province in 1990. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University in 2011, she continued to pursue a doctorate in solid mechanics at the same university.

Sponsored by the National Chinese Scholarship Council, she came to MU as a visiting scholar to engage in a one-year research program in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in December 2014. She was struck and killed by a car on Providence Road on the night of Jan. 22, at the age of 24.

David Currey, assistant director of the MU International Center, began the service by conveying condolences to the family of Zou on behalf of the MU family.

“We have lost a very talented and promising young scholar, and our hearts are broken,” Currey said. “The sorrow is not only deeply felt by the family, friends and colleagues here at MU, but also by those from Beijing Jiaotong University.”

Xiaoyu Guo, chairman of MU Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (FACSS), who took charge of arranging for Zou’s family to come to the U.S., kept choking up and had to pause his speech as he tried to go over his thoughts on this tragedy.

“I still cannot believe that such a lovely young lady has left this beautiful world forever,” Guo said. “May she rest in peace.”

Robert Schwartz, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering, lamented that Zou’s brilliant life was tragically cut short.

“The unfairness in the unexpected and tragic incident that halted her bright future filled all of us at the College of Engineering first with shock and then with unbelievable sorrow,” Schwartz said. “On behalf of the College of Engineering, we express our deepest condolences to her family and friends. We will not forget her.”

The majority of Zou’s family traveled from China to attend to her affairs after she had passed away. Her mother could not come due to health reasons.

Zou’s elder brother, Pengjie, shared their family story with others at the service with a shaking voice filled with grief.

Zou came from a family of four in the rural area of Hunan. For decades, the family had lived their lives in toil and the misery of poverty. They never had a place of their own, and Pengjie and his little sister sought shelter from relatives so their parents could pursue whatever work they could find in the cities. Zou’s father could not get his fingerprints registered for a visa to come to the U.S. as years of harsh work had already rendered his hands too callused, according to a newsletter from FACSS.

Although Zou and Pengjie were looked down upon by their peers throughout their lives, he said, with the support of parents, they worked their way up in academia and were both admitted into universities.

Pengjie said he and his little sister had made a promise to each other that while Pengjie would join the workforce and strive to provide for their family as soon as possible, Zou would put forth her best effort to achieve academic success in higher education.

“We never asked for much,” Pengjie said. “We just wanted to lead a happy life with our family, all of us together. We never got to fulfill our promise.

“She will always be the pride and honor of our family, forever,” Pengjie continued. “I feel like as if she never left us.”

At the end of the service, Zou’s father bowed to thank all those who helped and cared.

Afterwards, FACSS president Wenyi Lu disclosed that the fundraising campaign for Zou’s family had raised close to $20,000, which will be donated directly to the family.

Lu said that the members of FACSS will pursue the follow-up progress of the incident, including any legal action that would potentially arise.

“We are not yet certain if (the family of Zou) would choose to hire a lawyer or have a representative of legal presence,” Lu said. “We will stay closely in touch with any update.”