It is with great sadness that I make this post. My friend Jessica Orozco was killed in Kingman, Arizona on Sunday night, October 28, 2018. I learned about her death  on Monday, but wanted to wait a day or so to make any public statements about it to see if information surrounding the harsh circumstances of her death would be revealed. Investigations are ongoing. Rather than wait any longer, however, I am deciding to make a tribute to this lovely, beautiful person who was taken from this world far too soon.

My favorite photo I took of her. Jessica specifically wore this “Botany Is Bitchin” t-shirt for good luck on this trip, her first plant-related excursion since having moved to Arizona. Obviously it worked. She was in love with the lilies and with living. So was I.

I first heard from Jessica in September 2016 at the suggestion of a pair of our mutual friends, who told her that she should “reach out a botanical branch” to me. (Her words.) I was instantly charmed by this eager young graduate just coming out of completing her Master’s Degree at Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens and Claremont Graduate University in California. She had very recently moved to Kingman to start a brand new career working as a rangeland specialist for the Hualapai Nation and was looking to make new friends and connections in this region, where she knew no one. Jessica sent me a warm Facebook message expressing her excitement at learning about Arizona plants, which were significantly different from the Californian plants that she had mostly worked with. We exchanged plant information, as well as a willingness to become friends – it was in this way that Jessica entered my life. From what I have read of the numerous tributes to her on her Facebook page, this is how she approached everyone. She was almost immediately and universally loved by each person she came into contact with.

I took a number of more typical photos of her, but we joked that we should also do a “sexy model pose”. She had a great sense of humor, which usually goes automatically with a great heart and a great intellect.

It did not take us long to set up our first botanical exploration trip, which was to see a mass bloom of desert lilies (Hesperocallis undulata) occurring along the Colorado River. Jessica had never seen desert lilies in habitat before, not even as isolated individuals, much less the thousands of fragrant white-flowering spikes that erupted from the sands that year. I took great pleasure in her amazed and joyous response to these ephemeral bulbs, perhaps even more so than I did in the flowers themselves. She was so smitten with the flowers and our afternoon spent together in them that she decided to have one tattooed on her leg, joining a number of her other favorite flower species that she had already had done.

Jessica was a passionate botanist, in love with plants, learning, and the world. Only three weeks later, we took our second botanical excursion, a day trip to Amboy Crater in the central Mojave Desert of California, in order to witness springtime desert wildflowers. She asked me numerous questions, always hungry to learn as much as she could about plants she was unfamiliar with. She even took notes. That takes a special kind of intellect, to do that on an afternoon road trip.

It was very windy up at the summit of Amboy Crater. We were having some trouble standing up, and keeping our hats on. This was mere minutes before sunset on March 25, 2017.

While Jessica’s commitment to plants, her education, her work, and her friends were all in and of themselves notable, it was her special commitment to raising her nephew James as her own son that stood out the most for me. She adopted James as a six year old after his own parents were unable to raise him, and she made her love for him and seeing to his well-being the highest priority in her life. Her selflessness and patience in taking care of his needs and including him in her social activities (including both of our floral road trips and her attendance of several social gatherings I held at my cactus rancho south of Yucca, Arizona) stands out as one of the most stellar aspects of her personality. Jessica loved everything fiercely and with great exuberance. James she loved most of all.

Our first lily-finding trip. James was 8 years old in this photo.

I am heartbroken over her sudden loss. She was taken away from this world far too soon, and she is being mourned by everyone who had the great fortune to know her spirit. I will miss her million-watt smile and luminous personality. The Hualapai Nation will miss her dedication to science and improving the rangelands of these rugged lands at the edge of Arizona’s greatest natural wonder, the Grand Canyon. Her friends and family will miss her open heart and brilliant spirit. The world at large will miss a valuable angel.

James had just celebrated his 10th birthday the day before Jessica was killed. Her final, poignant, and ultimately tragic Facebook post made on his birthday reads: “Happy birthday James! I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since you were born! I remember it line (SIC) it was yesterday. Time sure flies by. Auntie loves you more than anything in the world, even more than plants! Let’s see what the next 10 years bring!!!!”

Jessica’s final Facebook post: James’ birthday, Saturday, October 27, 2018. This truly breaks my heart.

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Jessica took this selfie with a desert lily on our day out amongst the dunes. It is one of my favorite photos of her.

Jessica’s floral tattoos. The desert lily she got as a result of our first trip to see them along the river is the one on the right in the image.

One last photo that I particularly like of my lovely friend. She was so in her element when amongst flowers. I’d like to remember her this way.

I wish that we could have been friends for much more than two years. But I will nonetheless always treasure them, for to have known her at all is a privilege. Thank you for the love and joy you bestowed upon all of us, Dearest Jessica, and may you find eternal lilies wherever you are now. 🌷💖🌵