Classmates and friends gathered in Memorial Church yesterday afternoon to remember Cecilia C. Ekperi ’09. Ekperi, a rising sophomore and a leader in the black community, died suddenly this July.

Over the summer, Ekperi returned to her hometown of Washington D.C. to work for the National Institute for Health. She was playing basketball with friends, including Patrick Jean Baptiste ’09, at the National Cathedral School when she died.

Ekperi lived in Greenough as a freshman and planned to live in Winthrop House this fall. She was active in the Association of Black Harvard Women and a member of BlackCAST. She also served as social chair of the Freshman Black Table.

“She was one of our best members. She always had some great wisdom or insight at meetings,” said Natasha S. Alford ’08, also a member of the Association of Black Harvard Women. “As an upperclassman I looked up to her a lot.”

Jason C.B. Lee ’08, who knew Ekperi through the Black Students’ Association, said she “could bring everybody together socially but also intellectually.”

Laurel A. Macey ’09, who had planned to room with Ekperi this fall, spoke during the memorial service about her friend’s warmth and generosity of spirit.

“She had a grace about her that very few people are blessed with,” Macey said.

Macey said that freshman year, Ekperi sent a group of friends a text message that read: “Just a reminder, you are beautiful. Have a great day!”

Macey said that Ekperi would have wanted all of them to learn to “share what love we have, smile when we see others, because tomorrow is not a guarantee, and all we have is today.”

In addition to Macey, S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, Gene A. Corbin, executive director of Phillips Brooks House, Alford, and Reverend Peter J. Gomes also spoke at the service, and the Kuumba singers performed.

Counter spoke of the “loss of a member of the Harvard community.” He read a short Richard Fife poem entitled “No Person is Ever Truly Alone.”

Corbin praised Ekperi’s passion and dedication. He shared a story about Ekperi’s success as a high school basketball player.

“She played the game of basketball like she played the game of life,” he said.

Gomes, like Macey, encouraged the assembled students to learn from their classmate’s untimely death “not to live fearfully but to live fully.” He told students to treat each day as a gift and in so doing, “honor their friend.”