Posted at: 06/15/2009 6:30 PM
Updated at: 06/15/2009 6:58 PM
By: Eyewitness News 4, The Associated Press

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Family, friends remember UNM student

Paul Harrington, boyfriend of Megumi, and Megumi's mother, Junko, embrace at a service Monday

Megumi Mayamoto

Friends and family joined several members of the University of New Mexico physics department during a memorial ceremony Monday for Megumi Yamamoto, who died in a helicopter crash last week.

Megumi was a graduate student in physics at UNM. The helicopter's pilot, state police Sgt. Andy Tingwall, 36, also died in last week's crash in the Sangre de Cristo mountains near Santa Fe.

Megumi became lost while hiking and was rescued by Tingwall and another officer.

Paul Harrington, the woman's boyfriend, described Megumi's brilliance and said she was a talented violinist.

"It's really the world's loss, it really is because she was so brilliant and just did what she could to help people," he said. "It's very sad that she's gone."

Harrington said Megumi was hiking behind him before they were separated.

"I stopped and started getting food and water out of our pack because we were going to take a rest there, and it seem like it was taking too long for her to reach me," he said.

Harrington thinks Megumi may have been scared by an animal or disoriented because of the elevation. He says he can't think of any other reason she would have disappeared.

"That night when I was taking shelter from the storm, I was just laying in my tent thinking the whole time, 'OK, why would she have broken trail, where could she possibly be,'" he said.

At Megumi's service Monday, Harrington shared a tearful embrace with Megumi's mother, Junko, who traveled from Japan to attend.

Junko said her daughter came to the United States to pursue her dreams. She was working toward a doctorate in quantum physics at UNM before the tragic crash.

"I hope everyone will pray for her to complete the accomplished mission in heaven," Junko Megumi said.

Megumi will be cremated and her ashes will be taken back to her hometown of Tokyo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.