Included in her MySpace profile under “Things I love” were: God, peppermint tea, Pacific Lutheran University, the idea of being a teacher and “My Life.”

Also on the list: “Being in love” and “Having to stand on my tippy toes to kiss Brady.”

Jocelyn Denham and her boyfriend, Brady Freeman, both PLU students, died in a car crash Friday night in Central Washington after the car Freeman was driving crossed the centerline and crashed into an SUV headed the opposite direction.

The news of Denham’s death stunned friends at PLU and in her hometown of Bend, Ore.

But nowhere was the sense of loss greater than among the children at the East Side Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, where Denham worked part time throughout her four college years.

“She worked with hundreds of kids over those years,” said Gary Klein, the club’s director. “The impact on all those lives is just hard to imagine.”

Klein said several of Denham’s friends and fellow volunteers spontaneously showed up at the club on Monday, wanting to help with the difficult job of explaining to the children why their teacher wouldn’t be coming anymore.

The children drew pictures and made cards and banners, Klein said, some of which will be put on display and others sent to her family.

“She had such an outgoing personality; she was such a genuine, good-hearted person, the kids just loved her,” said Jinny Hanson, the club’s marketing director, fighting to hold back tears.

Denham majored in history and religion at PLU and wanted to teach history. She had been admitted to PLU’s Master of Arts in Education program and, according to those who knew her, she was ideally suited to teach.

Denham’s mother, Susan Denham of Bend, said Denham discovered her love for children and teaching at the Boys & Girls Club. “Originally, she wanted to be an attorney,” she said. “Working with the children there is what changed her mind.”

The club is also where Denham got to know Freeman, who also worked at the East Side club briefly, then transferred to the Al Davies branch.

Denham’s dedication to serving her community was her highest priority, friends said, and going into the field of education was her true calling.

“I don’t know how her family is going to deal with this tough time, but I pray for them every night,” said Nile Teclemariam, who worked with Denham at a Puyallup clothing store and also volunteered with her at the Boys & Girls Club.

Teclemariam said Denham and Freeman had been dating since about the beginning of the last school year, and that her relationship was a bright spot when other employees at the store talked about their lackluster love lives.

“The more and more I got to know her, I was like, man, Brady really has something special, and they really had a true love for each other,” Teclemariam said.

Teclemariam remembered Denham as being witty and sometimes sarcastic, joking with him over the store’s walkie-talkies about some of the customers they had to deal with.

When it came to the Boys & Girls Clubs, though, Teclemariam described Denham as “like a perfect mother,” intuitively able to work with the kids there.

“She never lost control,” he said.

Rob Carson: 253-597-8693

The Bend (Ore.) Bulletin contributed to this report.