The funeral for the teenager killed in a tubing accident in Greenwich last week is scheduled for Monday.
Friends are having trouble accepting the sudden loss of 16-year-old Emily Fedorko, who died last Wednesday.
Fedorko was a rising junior, high honors student, gymnast, lacrosse player singer and actress at Greenwich High School, was a strong swimmer and was involved in community service through St. Clement Parish, according to her obituary published in the Greenwich Time. She had a certificate of personal watercraft operation and took a safe boating and personal watercraft course this summer, her obituary states. Fedorko also had recently earned her driver's license, according to her obituary.
She was very close to her family and had many friends in Greenwich and Westbrook, her obituary states.
On Friday night her friends and gymnastics coaches reflected on her life.
"I haven't moved on yet. I know a lot of the other gymnasts here haven't," said Sam Aparicio, who's stuck thinking about her friend. "Usually at a gymnastics meet you're focused, you're nervous but Emily was totally different.
She says Emily's radiant smile made her different. While at Darien High School Aparicio competed against Fedorko while she was at Greenwich High School.
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"Her energy that she just gave was incredible. You couldn't find someone that was that uplifting," Aparicio said
That uplifting spirit was so sadly taken away from her family and fellow gymnasts this Wednesday when Emily was killed in a tubing accident on Long Island Sound in Greenwich
"She was dedicated. She was disciplined. She was an overachiever," said John Schwartz, executive director of the Darien YMCA. He's known Emily for five years. "If you told Emily she can't do this, she'll do it."
Schwartz says Fedorko started participating in the YMCA Gymnastics program in 2010.
"The whole team is affected by this and we're really trying to rally around Kelsey now and the family," Schwartz added.
Kelsey, Emily's younger sister, is on the Darien team at the YMCA. On Kelsey's instagram she wrote, "Emily Catherine Fedorko...The best sister on the planet. Rest in peace Emily. Love You."
"It's just something that none of us can comprehend happening," Schwartz said.
The cartwheels and somersaults are all done now to rally these athletes and remember their teammate.
"You just gotta think she's in a better place now," Aparicio added.
We're told the Fedorkos are looking to set up a foundation in Emily's name that will hover around gymnastics. Her wake was held on Sunday.
Fedorko is survived by her parents, Michael Fedorko Jr. and Pamela Gagne Fedorko, her brother, Joseph Patrick Fedorko, her sister Kelsey Rose Fedorko and many other family members, according to her obituary.
