Winthrop Junior Dead at 20

Rebecca A. Pocius '94, a Winthrop House resident and a catcher on the varsity softball team, died in a car accident on August 17. She was 20.

Born in Lansdowne, Penn., she lived in Scranton, Penn. and attended Central High there before coming to Harvard. She was an applied math concentrator.

Winthrop House Senior Tutor Gregory Mobley described Pocius as "an energetic and irrepressible young woman who showed great character."

"She was always cheerful, but beyond her accomplishments I can say Becky was deeply loved by her roommates and friends," he said.

Pocius was driving alone on Interstate 84 in upstate New York when she lost control of her car after making a lane change and hit a guardrail. It was raining the afternoon of the accident.

She was taken to Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. where she died as a result of her injuries.

She is survived by her parents, Len and Eileen, and her sister Jennifer, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania.

Softball coach Barry Haskell, who recruited Pocius to Harvard, recalled meeting Pocius at a softball summer camp program during her junior year in high school.

"She was a coach's dream because she was all ears and was willing to work hard to do what was necessary to play at the top of her game," he said.

Pocius lettered in tennis, softball and basketball in high school, and was a National Honor Society member.

She was a letter winner on the Harvard softball team in her first and sophomore years.

Haskell said Pocius had a unique ability to make others feel positive. "As a catcher she's like the quarter-back. One of her jobs was to keep spirits up. She performed that task very well," he said.

Pocius lived in Straus Hall in her first year.

Funeral services for Pocius were held in Scranton shortly after her death.

A memorial service open to friends and to members of the Harvard community will be held in the Winthrop garden on Sunday, September 27 at 4:30 p.m. It will include a tree planting and a poetry reading.

Her Winthrop roommates, K. Jill Fleuriet '94, Alyson R. Meranze '94 and Katie J. Phillips '94, are keeping a memory book.

A memorial fund has been established by friends and the Athletic Department. Proceeds will be used to purchase a softball scoreboard named in her honor.

Contributions may be made to the Rebecca Pocius Memorial Fund, Harvard University Softball Team, Athletic Department, 60 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138.