News

Megan Rountree, 18, dies in fall

Megan Emily Rountree spent Thanksgiving night giving out homemade Spanish rice and cherry pie to homeless people she referred to as her friends in Midtown, according to her friend Sue Tsorakis. Two days later she was dead in a tragic accident.

Rountree, 18, was the daughter of Lucy Krohn, chief of staff to Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, D-San Diego. She attended Sacramento City College, where she was active in the environmental club, and worked at Crepeville in Midtown. She also volunteered frequently for local charities, particularly serving meals to homeless people at the Union Gospel Mission.

“She probably had a million friends, because she befriended everybody,” Krohn said.

Tsorakis, known as “the Hamburger Lady” for her work giving out food to the homeless, said Rountree was working in a Starbucks in Elk Grove when they first met about two years ago. Rountree got increasingly involved in charity work, eventually getting donation barrels in nine area Starbucks and gathering more than 50 garbage bags worth of clothing, canned food and other goods for charity.

“This was a young woman, 18 years old, who did more than most people do in a whole lifetime,” Tsorakis said. “I hope and pray there will be a shelter in her name.”

Rountree fell from a Midtown parking garage at around 2:30 a.m. last Saturday morning. She was with several friends who were skateboarding, but Krohn said her daughter was not a skateboarder, as several news outlets had reported. Police have said there is no indication the fall was anything but an accident.

“I want everyone to focus on her life, not her death,” Krohn said. “I want her to be known for what she did for other people.”

There will be a public viewing on Thursday from noon to 7 p.m., with the funeral scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. Both will be held at the East Lawn Elk Grove Memorial Park, 9189 East Stockton Blvd. in Elk Grove. Her family has established the Megan Rountree Memorial Fund in her memory. Donations may be sent to the Golden One Credit Union, P.O. Box 15319, Sacramento, CA 95851.

Contact Lawrence Cooper at (916) 319-2076 for more information.

“I could not have asked for a better daughter, or a better friend,” Krohn said. “We were closer than the norm. I don’t have any regrets. There is nothing I would have told her that I hadn’t already. She was perfect.”

Want to see more stories like this? Sign up for The Roundup, the free daily newsletter about California politics from the editors of Capitol Weekly. Stay up to date on the news you need to know.

Sign up below, then look for a confirmation email in your inbox.

 

Support for Capitol Weekly is Provided by: