Andrew Enriquez, a third-year history student, had 212 friends, pumped iron whenever he could and loved listening to Tupac - according to his Facebook profile.
When 20-year-old Enriquez died in a car accident in September 2007, many of those 212 friends turned to his abruptly abandoned profile for another glimpse at his warm smile.
The dead are memorialized through prayer cards, candlelight vigils, flower gardens and scholarship funds.
But today's youth are turning to more unconventional means of remembering those who have died.
They're memorializing their loved ones through Facebook.
Eight months later, Enriquez is still being tagged in pictures and receiving wall posts from friends.
Sentiments like "missing you," "thinking of you" and "can't believe it's been eight months, homie" serve as a gentle reminder that Enriquez was, and still is, loved by many.
Wayne Griffin, associate director of the UF Counseling Center and a specialist in loss and bereavement, said that Facebook is a great tool for not only remembering the dead but for helping those who are grieving to express their emotions in a healthy way.
"In the virtual world, we try to create worlds or existences that parallel our own but last longer," Griffin said.
Flowers set out for a person are eventually going to wilt and die, but Internet profiles have longevity, he said.
Enriquez's older sister, Amanda Enriquez, comments on his page at least once a week, she said.
She writes simply to say "hello," to tell him her plans for the day or to wish him a "Happy Easter."
Before making a recent visit to his gravesite, she left a message that read, "going to go visit u now..i love you andy!"
She has yet to figure out her brother's account password, so for now his profile remains exactly how he left it, and she takes solace in reading other people's messages to her little brother.
"Seeing people write on it makes me feel better," said Enriquez's sister, a student at the University of Miami. "I know my mom got a Facebook because of it."
She said her mother, Sue Enriquez, opened the account so that she could read the affectionate messages regularly left by his friends on the popular social networking site.
When a young student dies, many friends and family members are not present but still want to feel connected, even if they can't make the memorial services, Griffin said.
Online communities, like Facebook and MySpace, allow them to be involved, even from a distance.
"It provides a way for them to express themselves as if they were there; a virtual reality," Griffin said.
But, in some cases, even the virtual reality is short-lived.
Facebook policy expects profiles of the dead to be turned into memorials, but is vague about how long profiles will be kept active.
"When we are notified that a user has died, we will generally, but are not obligated to, keep the user's account active under a special memorialized status for a period of time determined by us to allow other users to post and view comments," according to Facebook's Terms of Use.
Even so, Facebook administrators really have no way of knowing that a user has died unless someone notifies them, so these profiles may be overlooked for an indefinite amount of time. This is good for Nicole Martingano, a junior studying criminology, who uses these virtual memorials to stay connected.
When UF student Eric Gold died, Martingano lost both a therapist and a friend.
"One day you're working with that person, and the next day you see them on the front page of the Alligator," she said.
Gold died at Shands at UF in January 2008 after a long struggle with lymphoma cancer.
Though Gold, a second-year law student, had been in and out of hospitals his entire life, he never let his health problems get in the way, Martingano said.
The two met after Martingano was hit by a drunken driver in 2006. After coming out of a coma, she was left with severe brain damage and facial paralysis.
Gold was Martingano's speech therapist and spent countless hours teaching her how to speak and swallow again.
"He was somebody who saw people through," she said.
While nothing will bring Gold back, Martingano can recall fond memories with a click of the mouse.
He's still eating at The Swamp Restaurant with friends, posing in cap and gown at graduation and hugging his girlfriend.
Still images keep him alive in the minds of all those leaving comments on his page, including Martingano, who left one recently thanking Gold for the role he played in helping her recover from her accident.
"It was just me thinking about Eric," she said.
Griffin's dealings with those in mourning have taught him that many people find it physically hard to express their feelings following a tragedy. Facebook allows those who bottle their emotions to express them in a relatively private yet public manner, Griffin said. Two-way dialogue once took place strictly in person.
"Growing up, that kind of connection occurred in small towns at viewings," he said.
Now two-way dialogue can occur over the computer in the form of written communication, where healing can occur between friends and family members who are oceans apart. Sentiments that may have been hard for some to share in person can be expressed over the computer without a spoken word, Griffin said.
While personal profiles tend to contain messages addressed to the one who has passed away, group profiles provide a chance for family and friends to share their feelings by rallying behind the person being remembered.
Healing can be facilitated through sharing anecdotes and observations about loved ones, Griffin said.
Catherine Barclift, a graduate of Florida State University and a new law student at UF, was killed in November 2007 after she was hit by a car while jogging. That day, students created a group called "Im Praying for Catherine Barclift," and though she passed away the next day, the group still has 862 members.
Two other groups, "Petition for an Honorary J.D. (Juris Doctor) for Catherine Barclift" and "I'm running for Catherine," were also created in her honor.
Jillian Levy, a senior law student, was Barclift's ambassador at law school orientation and was immediately struck by her enthusiasm.
"My favorite thing about Catherine was how naturally magnetic she was," Levy said. "People were just drawn to her because she was so friendly, energetic and genuinely kind. Everyone loved being around her because she was just so happy all of the time."
When Barclift died, she was training for a marathon with some friends from law school.
"I'm Running for Catherine" was a group created for those who planned on running in the race to honor her, Levy said. To Levy and many others, Facebook provided a way for family and friends to remember Barclift together.
"I think the most important thing about it was that it was a place to grieve with other people who knew her and understood the silly little stories and memories that we missed the most," Levy said.
In her most recent message on the "I'm Running for Catherine" page, Levy thanked those who participated in the run for Barclift, saying that Barclift would have loved the involvement.
While friends and family will grow old, Enriquez, Gold and Barclift will be forever young in the minds of those who remember them through their Facebook profiles.
"For me, sometimes I'll find myself just thinking about Catherine and will pull up her profile," Levy said. "Even if we're not all talking about it everyday, you can see on the groups or her profile that we still think about her a lot."
