Community mourns death of Madelyn Eitas, 11-year-old who died following Utah avalanche
A line of community members stretched out the door to give their condolences to the Eitas family. 
Madelyn's celebration of life was held a week after she died in an avalanche on a family trip. Photos source: Becky Eitas
Hundreds of photos of Madelyn lined the tables at the Century House. Photos by Grace Roche
Community members could page through photos books at the celebration of life. 
Madelyn was 11 when she died last week. 
Madelyn was a passionate soccer player, and was a member of the Mariner Scorpions. 
Friends and family wrote notes to Madelyn, known by many as Maddie. 
Madelyn's soccer teammates attended the celebration of life to commemorate their friend and fellow player. 
Many attendees wore teal clothes and accessories in Madelyn's memory.
A line of community members stretched out the door to give their condolences to the Eitas family.
Madelyn's celebration of life was held a week after she died in an avalanche on a family trip. Photos source: Becky Eitas
Hundreds of photos of Madelyn lined the tables at the Century House. Photos by Grace Roche
Community members could page through photos books at the celebration of life.
Madelyn was 11 when she died last week.
Madelyn was a passionate soccer player, and was a member of the Mariner Scorpions.
Friends and family wrote notes to Madelyn, known by many as Maddie.
Madelyn's soccer teammates attended the celebration of life to commemorate their friend and fellow player.
Many attendees wore teal clothes and accessories in Madelyn's memory.
ACUSHNET — Family, friends and community members filled Century House, a banquet hall, on Sunday, March 1 to memorialize Madelyn Eitas, an 11-year-old girl from Rochester who died during a skiing trip in Utah.
Many people who attended her celebration of life wore teal clothing, jewelry and other accessories in Madelyn’s memory. Her soccer teammates donned their jerseys in honor of her love for the game and the team, with some wearing armbands with her name.
Madelyn was trapped in an avalanche at Brighton Ski Resort in Brighton, Utah on Feb. 19 during a family trip over February break. Her brother Cameron was among about 20 people searching for her, and he located her using an app on their phones.
Madelyn had been buried for 30 minutes when she was found and was transferred to a hospital in critical condition. She died in the hospital later that day.
Madelyn’s mother, Becky Eitas, said her daughter "absolutely loved” each of her friends and all the girls she played with, and thanked the community for its support of her and her family.
“It's been overwhelmingly amazing the past week to see how much our baby girl was loved,” she said during the celebration. “I really, really appreciate everything everybody has done for us and for her.”
Cindy Pitts, a coach for Old Rochester Youth Soccer, attended the event along with many of her players. She is the team’s assistant coach and worked with Madelyn before she joined the Mariner Youth Soccer Club.
“Madeline was always the silly, happy, fun, made-everything-better kind of person, and not to mention she was one of the best kids on the team,” Pitts said.
Pitts said her former player’s death has been hard on the team, and described her as the kind of person who always brought people together and made them smile.
One of Pitts’s favorite memories of Madelyn was at a practice around Halloween, when the group would dress up. That year, the group decided to have a pretend wedding on the field.
“Madelyn was the one like skipping down the fields — just a positive, fun person,” she said.
The team plans to wear patches bearing her name and the number seven — her jersey number when she was on the team — in her honor this season.
Michael Nelson, the Old Rochester Regional School District superintendent, said he was lucky to know Madelyn both through his role in her school and as a friend of her family.
He said her loss has been felt deeply in Rochester and the surrounding area. Nelson said she was “deeply entrenched” in the community along with her family, and meant a lot to her fellow students.
“Right now we're mourning, but finding ways to celebrate her at the same time,” Nelson said. “We're going to take it one day at a time and make sure that all those who loved her feel supported,” Nelson said.
Madelyn’s parents have created a community fund in their daughter’s memory. The money raised will go towards a Mariners soccer scholarship and a scoreboard at Dexter Field in Rochester. Donations can be made on Venmo to @Forever1111.
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