14 Aug 1987 – 14 Jul 2010
4th Great Granddaughter of Philip Cardon and Martha Marie Tourn
3rd Great Granddaughter of Louis Philip Cardon and Susette Stalé
2nd Great Granddaughter of Joseph Samuel Cardon and Rhoda Ann McClellan
Great Granddaughter of Joseph Harold Cardon and Mary Johnson
Granddaughter of Charles Howard Cardon and Jacquelyn Lee Kozak
Daughter of Caryn Lee Cardon and Jeremy Paul Giliam
Anchorage resident Brittni Lee Giliam, 22, died July 14, 2010, in Anchorage. A visitation was held with a funeral at the LDS Chapel, 13161 Brayton Drive. Bishop Boyd Esplin officiated.
Brittni was born Aug. 14, 1987, in Kahuku, Hawaii. She became an Alaskan resident in 1988. She attended East High School and Brigham Young University. She was employed at the Alaska Spine Institute and Anchorage Women’s Clinic and she belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For community service and special awards, she was also part of the Key Club, Beta Club, Science Club, Partners Club, state championship track, piano teacher, was summa cum laude at East High and received a full academic scholarship to Brigham Young University.
Her hobbies were running, hiking, biking, backpacking, clinical aromatherapy and blogging on http://givenafterwichgive.blogspot.com/.
Her family wrote: “Brittni’s abundant joy empowered others to live life more fully. Her goodness was evident to all who knew her. She will be remembered for her passion of family, friends and love of the earth.”
She is survived by her mother and father, Cari and Jerry Giliam; eight siblings, Ryan, Joseph, Weston, Micaley, Brenton, Matthew, Brooklyn and Carinne; and grandparents, Evelyn and Pierre Giliam and family, and Charles and Jackie Cardon and family.
Memorial donations may be made to Earth Angel Memorial Fund, 15746 Noble Point Drive, Anchorage 99516.
Arrangements are with Legacy Funeral Home’s Bragaw Chapel. Visit the online memorial at legacy.com
Sept 9, 2010
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to family, friends, and community for the prayers and support that have continued to help us through the difficult and painful loss of our beautiful daughter Brittni.
After a long, thorough and complete investigation, we are at peace with the conclusion of the detectives at the Anchorage Police Department, that Brittni took her own life on July the 14th in the Helen Louise McDowell Sanctuary.
There are still questions that we may never know the answers to. But, we do know that Brittni was a good person with a sound and bright mind. She was intelligent, pure, kind, and selfless, and loved life and everything about it. Ultimately, it is our trust and faith in God, in His eternal plan, and in His ability to know the intentions of one’s heart that brings us much strength and peace.
So our family will go forward, and though suicide is an uncomfortable and awkward subject, we encourage family and friends to draw near us, and to follow Brittni’s example of taking time to enjoy every bright colored sky, rugged Alaskan path, and the majestic mountains that surround us, for this is where we will feel close to God and precious Brittni.
Thank you again for your overwhelming love and support.
-Jerry and Cari Giliam Family
JuneauEmpire.com
Posted: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
ANCHORAGE – Anchorage police say a woman found stabbed in a park in July apparently killed herself. Homicide detectives announced their findings Tuesday in the death of a 22-year-old Brittni Giliam.
Friends and family found her body at 1:30 a.m. July 14 at Helen Louise McDowell Sanctuary, a park between 36th Avenue and Tudor Road.
Police Lt. David Parker tells the Anchorage Daily News that Giliam died of a stab wound to the chest.
Detectives had been awaiting forensic testing, including DNA testing of the knife.
Parker says they determined the death was a sucide and there was no indication that anybody else was involved.
Angelus Memorial Park, Anchorage, Anchorage Borough, Alaska
Ken Lambertsen, a bishop at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Youth Singles Ward that she attended, said Giliam lived with her family in South Anchorage but she and a roommate were house-sitting on Helvetia Drive in the Geneva Woods neighborhood. The house backs up to the McDowell Sanctuary, a swampy wooded area with a small pond. Giliam and friends hiked Mount Baldy around dinner time Tuesday and she returned to the Geneva Woods home around 10:30 p.m. Afterward, she went for a walk. Evening walks were common for her. However, homeless people, which occasionally includes a predator or two, do set up camps in many Anchorage wooded areas, but it has not been disclosed whether or not there was a homeless camp in the Sanctuary.
Giliam worked at The Alaska Spine Institute and, according to her blog, often rode her bike on a trail through the sanctuary on her way home from work. She graduated from East High School in 2005. According to the Deseret News, she was the second of nine children in her family. Giliam attended Brigham Young University but hadn’t completed her degree there. The BYU connection is the reason for Utah interest in the story; Utah stories have been published by the Deseret News and KSL Channel 5, where former Alaskans who’ve moved to Utah are posting comments about Anchorage. They represent Anchorage fairly accurately, saying that some spots are dangerous for unaccompanied young women, although one commenter characterizes us as “gang-infested”, which is overkill.
Numerous condolences have already been appended to her most recent blog post.