In Memoriam: Rue Ann "Jagurl" Salvador

January 1, 1979-August 18, 2008

A confidant.

An adviser.

A counselor.

A friend.

A girlfriend.

A best friend.

A sister.

A daughter.
A loved one.

These are but a few descriptions of Jagurl in our lives. She has even been more than the designation.

Jagurl was an extraordinary person who had a knack in making friends. I got acquainted with her in the company I'm working at right now. We were transferred from different accounts to a newly opened Line of Business (LOB) in a Sales/CS account. I was a newbie in this call center industry and I was only a week old in my previous account. I was nervous to take calls & terrified by the fact that I have not fully internalized my product knowledge. She was a veteran. At that point in time I was somewhat standoffish. I only talked to my batchmates who were transferred along with me. I couldn’t forget how she started talking to me & making me feel comfortable. She was an initiator, a proactive type of person—especially when it comes to friendships. She was thoughtful & very sensitive to one’s feelings.

Eventually we became good friends. We had a great time being team mates in the first part of the LOB we pioneered in. I learned from her. She was a very good communicator. With that talent, I looked up to her & did my best to communicate with my callers in the same way that she did. I had the opportunity to listen to her calls many times and her callers just loved her. She knew how to build rapport in a timely manner. She brought gladness to her calls the same way she brought sunshine to the team.

She was a happy person—someone you can take on to brighten up any gloomy day. She can also be a wacky kind of individual. She can take you out of depression & bring you to a totally different world of excitement & fun. She was much uncomplicated—very simple, yet she could always dress up in style, & can be classy. With that, however, you could notice her innocence to subjects carnal in nature. She was a very religious person. She valued spirituality in a different level—a higher level than those who share the same lifestyle. She employed life with great sensibility, maturity, & responsibility.

She did not deserve the kind of passing she stumbled upon. Those cruel bandits didn’t have to kill her. She died in the arms of cold blooded, selfish individuals who disparaged her plans, obligations, & loved ones—let alone the value of her life.

We see and hear about crime all over. Murders, fatalities, all manner of horrible exploits flash through media every day of our lives—even accidents that involve the loss of thousands of lives. Every time we see the remains of the victims & reactions of those left behind, we feel an affinity with them. We feel for them. We ultimately pray that none of the same nature will happen to our loved ones.

If it does happen, even to a beloved friend, it can be as heartbreaking as losing a dear family member: painful & distressing. Once you hear the news, you wouldn’t believe such brutality would occur to someone we dearly love. At times like these, we come to realize how subtle life is—that in one quick & small moment, it can be taken away from us. How evil are those perpetrators who played in being god in taking away somebody else’s life. They didn’t have the right to do so.

It was Edwin Markham who said: There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.

Those who did this merciless act to Jagurl will have no where to run. If their conscience had been numbed with their repeated commission of crime, they will surely be pursued by life’s boomerang.

Speaking about the subject, the apostle Paul in Romans 13 discusses that this type of crime can not be set aside. In verse 4 he explained about God’s avenging authority: that He “executes wrath upon him that does evil”.

We, the friends and family whom Jagurl left behind, can only be consoled by the fact that she had already passed on to a better life. She lived a life of principle. She feared & loved God & devoted a considerable portion of her life demonstrating that love. In modern scripture found in the Doctrine & Covenants 42:46, the Lord said: And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them.

I couldn’t even bear to imagine the details of how Jagurl died. It must have been physically grueling and painful; but I know as soon as her spirit left that mortal body, a feeling of sweetness & joy enveloped her soul as she was taken back to God who gave her life.

Jagurl had finished her earthly journey and has moved on to the next sphere in the eternal scheme of things. We are all part of this journey together. We were born, as was Jagurl, to experience mortality—to obtain physical bodies & to prepare to meet God. Now that our dear friend, Jagurl had passed on, may we make her memory our inspiration to live our lives in such a manner that we may be worthy & be granted the privilege of meeting her again in the eternities. This reality, therefore suggests that that we consider the real meaning of “goodbye” as an interjection. It means “see you later”. The word “goodbye” or “farewell” appropriately, should be succeeded by phrases such as, “we’ll see each other again”, or “we’ll meet again, some time”.

However, no matter how we look at it, the word “goodbye” is a sad word. I would rather look at it the way Tasha Yar of Star Trek: Next Generation, explained it—she said: Death is when we exist only in the memories of others. So this is not goodbye, but good memories.

Good memories, Jagurl! We love you. We will miss you. We shall see each other again.