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A picture of Linda Liu and her late son Kevin Jiang, shared at Jiang’s memorial service Saturday.
Liu (left), with a translator, at Saturday’s service.
“Kevin lived full-heartedly, enthusiastically, like a ray of sunlight,” Linda Liu said about her late son, Kevin Jiang, a 26-year-old Yale grad student who was shot to death in the Goatville section of East Rock last week.
“He gave so much joy and happiness to me and to the people around us. I could not believe that a life full of so much energy and light could vanish from before my eyes.”
Liu shared those reflections Saturday afternoon during a memorial service for Jiang that was held at Trinity Baptist Church.
Jiang was to be married this summer at that very same State Street church. On Saturday, family, friends, mentors, and church members gathered to commemorate his life and death instead. The service took place one week to the day after Jiang was murdered near his fiancee’s home on Lawrence Street. Jiang would have celebrated his 27th birthday on Valentine’s Day.
City police continue to investigate the case, and are still looking for an MIT artificial-intelligence researcher named Qinxuan Pan for questions about the homicide.
At his memorial service Saturday afternoon, an American flag was draped over his casket to honor his service as a U.S. Army National Guardsman. Flowers lined the pulpit and Jiang’s family and friends sat socially-distanced in the pews. Over 450 others watched a video livestream of the service on Trinity Baptist Church’s Youtube channel.
Trinity Baptist Co-Pastor Greg Hendrickson (pictured) had planned to officiate Jiang’s wedding. On Saturday, he officiated the memorial service instead. “We come together to acknowledge the pain, the shock, the anger, the fear, and the bewilderment that we feel,” he said.
Hendrickson spoke of Jiang’s deep and lifelong devotion to Jesus and the Christian faith. He got to know Jiang over the past year and a half as Jiang always attended coffee hour after Sunday worship services at the State Street church.
“For Kevin, the natural world was a display of the beauty, the wisdom, the wildness of its creator. And so rightly, Kevin wanted to do his part to see that the world would be preserved and maintained for future generations to enjoy and marvel at.” Hendrickson spoke of Jiang’s dedication to the environment, such as how he studied mercury levels of fish in the Quinnipiac River.
Pictures of Jiang from the memorial service.
“He wanted to see that the world God had made, the world brought into being, and the world God in his wisdom and mercy continues to sustain each day would be taken care of and treated rightly by its human keepers.”
Hendrickson highlighted Jiang’s community service work, demonstrating Jiang’s longing to ensure fellow human beings were “treated rightly as well.”
Sections from Lamentations and Romans Chapter 8 were read in both Chinese and English as expressions of what Hendrickson called “hope even in the midst of grief and loss and uncertainty.”
Jiang’s mother, Zhen (Linda) Liu, was accompanied by Xiao Song Gao, who read Liu’s words in Chinese and English. Jiang was Liu’s only child.
When the police arrived at her West Haven house last Saturday evening to inform her of his murder, Liu said she could not believe it was real.
She had moved from Seattle to live with her son in West Haven. When Jiang invited Liu to come live with him in Connecticut, she remembered he reassured her saying, “Mom, I will always take care of you, don’t worry.” She recalled how their home was often filled with Jiang’s singing and piano playing.
Since Jiang was a child, he wanted to join the army and fly helicopters. “Kevin benefited a lot from the military training. He became very independent, self-controlled, brave, efficient, and gained leadership.”
She too spoke of the large role Christianity played in his life as he was baptized at eight years old, regularly attended church during college, and even went on a mission trip to rural Taiwan.
“Kevin’s life was short but colorful. It brought so much joy, happiness, and positivity to the people around him.” Liu said her son loved animals, music, dance, gymnastics, swimming, hiking, and photography.
“Kevin is the most wonderful gift God has ever given me on earth.”
Kevin’s father, Mingchen Jiang (pictured), spoke about his son’s religious and life journey. “Step by step we grew and matured together.”
Mingchen Jiang said the word Kevin used most often was “love” and he delivered a poem that he wrote in Kevin’s honor.
“I realize now that Kevin himself is an angel. His mission to this world is to deliver love.”
Zion Perry.
Jiang’s fiancée, Zion Perry (pictured), spoke about the importance of cherishing life. “Kevin often spoke of longing to be in a place without sin. And Kevin often spoke about how precious the gift of life is because we are but mist that may vanish in a moment.”
She read aloud a poem Jiang wrote to her:
To my beloved Zion,
Zion oh my love, you are my heaven from above
If this world falls apart it will be alright because we have each other’s hearts
You lead me closer to God and make me strong
And forgive me of all my wrongs
You’re the answer to my prayers and pleas
With you, I feel loved, respected, and at ease
I support you through and through
No matter what you do
May God continue to bless our friendship day by day
And I’ll always be there for you, every step of the way.
Perry concluded, “2020 was my year of blessings because I met my dear Kevin. I will always love him with the love of Christ. 我爱你蔣凯文。”
Watch the video of the memorial service below: