Three weeks ago, 58 people died while attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Most of them are people some have likely never heard of, or have no connection to.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget about these events if they don’t affect an individual personally or know someone who was there.

But somebody close to home here in Cheney did die, 33-year old Rachael Parker, who graduated from Cheney High School 15 years ago.

Parker went to the concert with a few of her coworkers, who remembered her as always having a smile on her face to greet them when they got to work.

For the past 10 years, Parker worked at the front desk of the Manhattan Beach Police Department, and was the first person most people either talked to on the phone or saw when they came in.

“Rachael’s smile could light up a room, even on the most difficult of days,” the department wrote in a Facebook post.

Robin Monter, Parker’s mother, told KXLY that her daughter “had a heart of gold,” and would often volunteer for homeless and elderly people.

Mary Pratt, who has been at CHS for 30 years, was Parker’s chemistry teacher in the 2000-2001 school year when she was a junior.

When I talked talked to her on the phone this week, she had nothing but great memories of Parker.

“She was always happy, always gave that extra effort and had such a positive attitude and a willingness to help,” Pratt said. “[Her classmates] would always go to her for help and she was so willing to work in groups, everyone wanted to work with her.”

Pratt said she had not spoken to Rachael since she graduated back in 2002. When she woke up on Oct. 2, she began by scrolling through the photos online of the initial people identified in the shooting and Parker was the first one to show up.

“I thought ‘how do I know her? She looks so familiar,’” Pratt said. But she couldn’t quite figure it out.

“It wasn’t until later that day when I got a call from my son and he asked if I knew her, and that’s when I remembered — oh yeah, I know her! That’s Rachael, I was devastated.”

Pratt hurt for Parker’s parents, and said she couldn’t even imagine what they are going through. She just wants Rachel to be remembered.

“To honor her memory, I think is really important,” Pratt said. “She was such a happy person.”