Miranda Lynea Boeckman
Miranda Lynea Boeckman, a senior at MU, was a talented gymnast.
“Miranda was a special young lady,” said Rob Drass, head coach of MU’s gymnastics team. “She was always vibrant and talkative and had such a positive outlook on life and gymnastics.”
Miss Boeckman died Saturday, June 9, 2007, in Columbia. She was 22.
She was born Jan. 21, 1985, in Enid, Okla., to Freddie and Kathy Boeckman. She attended grade school at Okeene Public Schools in Okeene, Okla., and was home-schooled for the remainder of secondary school. She trained at Okeene Zippers, Dynamo and Bart Conner gymnastics centers.
“She was an interesting young lady,” said Paul Ziert of Bart Conner Gymnastic Academy. “She was very talented and hard-working.”
While training at Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, Miss Boeckman traveled to Romania and France for competitions. She earned a gymnastics scholarship to MU and competed for the team during the 2003-04 school year. She also received the All-Big 12 gymnast award on the balance beam during her year on the team.
“She had some very unique skills, and her achievements show that she was very talented,” Drass said.
Classmate Brian Hampel said Miss Boeckman was unique and always spoke her mind in the psychology class they shared.
“We always talked before class,” Hampel said.
Miss Boeckman loved hunting and fishing with her father and brothers and shopping with her mother.
She is survived by her parents; four brothers, Dakota Boeckman, Chekotah Kane Boeckman and Dustin Boeckman, all of Okeene, Okla., and Buddy Boeckman, of Pond Creek, Okla.; two sisters, Heather Ebers of Okeene and Mitchie Lamle, of Enid, Okla.; three grandparents, Jim and Darlene Manos and Albert Boeckman, of Okeene, Okla.; 12 nieces and nephews; and numerous aunts and uncles.
Miss Boeckman’s paternal grandmother, Bernice Boeckman, maternal grandfather, Roy Hudson, and an aunt, Cindy Manos, died earlier.
Services, conducted by the Rev. Fred Jones, will be held at 10 a.m. today at the First Christian Church, 402 S. Fifth St., Okeene, Okla. Burial will follow in the Roselawn Cemetery in Okeene, Okla.
As a tribute to her younger brother, memorial contributions can be made to the Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma, P.O. Box 892592, Oklahoma City, OK 73189.
