Despite being a rising athletic star, a potential leader and an aspiring aviator, U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman Kristen Dickmann was best remembered by coaches, roommates and officials for her “melting” smile.
“She had a smile that would make you melt. … You’d just want to do everything she wanted,” said Midshipman 1st Class Catherine Sheerin, one of Dickmann’s roommates.
Even if her persistent smiling got her fellow plebes in trouble.
“Her classmates often suffered for her lack of proper military conduct, but it was a punishment they wouldn’t take back,” battalion Chaplain Cameron Fish said.
Dickmann was honored during a funeral ceremony at the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, and then laid to rest at the academy’s cemetery Wednesday.
She died last week in her dormitory room in Bancroft Hall hours after talking to family and friends. Medical examiners are trying to determine what caused her death.
Dickmann was a rising star on the academy’s volleyball team, an aggressive player who trained hard between matches, said Mike Schwob, the academy’s volleyball coach.
“I knew she would be a perfect fit to help the volleyball team and the country,” said Schwob, who presented Dickmann’s parents with her game jersey.
Midshipman 1st Class Harrison Smith, Dickmann’s squad leader, said she mastered her tasks and showed kindness to others. Smith had tabbed her to be part of a special training group.
“Her self-confidence continues to impress me now, as I think about her,” Smith said.
“She said she planned to go to flight school and fly a C-2 Greyhound. … She also saw herself later on as a soccer mom, driving a minivan filled with kids,” Sheerin said.
Following the service, Dickmann’s flag-draped coffin was carried out by her brother Kyle and a sailor.
After the coffin was loaded into the hearse, a procession to the academy’s cemetery was led by the Naval Academy Band. Following the hearse were more than 150 midshipmen, some wiping tears from their eyes.
“Smiling is such a simple thing to do, so do it,” said Midshipman 1st Class Jacqueline Muslin, Dickmann’s other roommate.
“Every time you smile, Kristen smiles through us.”
Dickmann is the second midshipman to die this year, after Midshipman 2nd Class Anthony Valliere died February from a motorcycle accident.
She is the fifth midshipman to die on academy grounds since 1996.
Autopsy results were still pending Wednesday.
