Memorial for student to be held tonight

A memorial service for Wharton undergraduate Electra Bynoe will be held in the Amato Recital Hall of Irvine Auditorium tonight at 6 p.m.

On April 2, Bynoe was found dead in her house on the 4000 block of Sansom Street. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's office determined that the cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation.

In addition to celebrating Bynoe's life, event planners said they believe the event should help bring some closure to the tragedy.

"Working on a memorial service can be very healing for the family and friends," said Leah Smith, spokeswoman for the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life. She added that it is a time that "people spend together thinking and living the experiences that they have had with the friend they have lost."

Smith said that Bynoe's friends have been the driving force in the planning process.

"Electra's friends are the ones who really have developed the order of the program and made musical selections," Smith said. "This is really their service."

And Smith said the service will be a very moving one, and will include a video montage and musical selection that Bynoe's friends have made as a tribute to her life.

"There will be a couple of musical selections, opening remarks given by the University chaplain and a couple of remarks from speakers, including one of Electra's professors and one of her good friends," she said. "We also anticipate there will be some remarks from a family member... some of them are coming up from Virginia to be part of the service."

The Office of the University Chaplain also helped in the planning process.

"The friends get together and map it out, and then share the drafts with me and VPUL and if there are any additions or revisions needed, we help them do those," University Chaplain William Gipson said. "I try to encourage the friends of the deceased student to take the lead in the memorial service... it seems to help them in the grieving process if the friends do it, rather than have the chaplain hand it to them."

Smith said that one part of the service will allow members of the Penn community to share their memories of Bynoe.

"There is a point in the program where Electra's friends invite any of those present to share memories and experiences," Smith said. "It is a kind of healing affirmation of people's feelings about their friend, and then inviting the University community to participate is a special piece of that."

"In the few other services we have done this year, it has been especially moving when people have been invited to share their experiences from the floor," she added.

Gipson said that this service, which he expects will last an hour, is not the first one held in Bynoe's memory.

"We attended [a memorial service] down in Arlington [for Bynoe] on Saturday," Gipson said. "There were some Penn students down there, as well as some people from the Penn Fund, as well as myself."

According to Gipson, that service, held over the weekend, was quite powerful.

"It was a very quiet but profound service," Gipson said. "It included singing by the church choir, remarks from two of her aunts, one of whom she had lived with for a while, and I made some remarks on behalf of President Rodin."

Smith said the expected turnout for today's memorial service is uncertain.

"The entire University community has been invited," she said.

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