Bailey – They came all day Thursday to the Cutthroat Cafe to pay their respects to the waitress.
Emily Keyes, 16, had worked for two years at the cafe, where colleagues and friends recalled her as a vivacious, hard worker who was always smiling.
“The customers loved her,” said waitress Michelle Anderson. “She was always very aware of the people around her.” A bouquet of bright flowers adorned the cafe’s counter Thursday and a collection jar in memory of Emily had more than $300 in it by lunchtime.
Anderson, 29, said Emily was very close to her family.
She recalled the first time she met Keyes’ father, during the local Bailey Day celebration. The cafe was providing meals free for festival volunteers.
“Don’t you have a cute little blond to take my order?” he said to Anderson.
Anderson said she was flabbergasted but Keyes again asked for the “cute little blond.”
“I was getting all steamed up about it,” Anderson recalled. “At first I wanted to slap him.”
“Hon, you do know she is my daughter,” Keyes finally said.
Retelling the story made Emily laugh.
Anderson had dinner with Emily and another friend Tuesday night. They talked about boys and laughed a lot, “typical” teenage conversation, Anderson said.
Another waitress, Bethany Rosentrater, who graduated from Platte Canyon last year, described Emily as a typical teen who enjoyed spending her tip money on concerts.
Jessica Leedom, 16, said she went to a Green Day concert with Keyes earlier this year at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
The junior at Platte Canyon counted Keyes among her best friends, she said.
“She is nicer than most girls,” Leedom said. “She had a heart bigger than most of us.”
Emily was generous to friends, Leedom said.
“She gave a lot of her money away to friends for lunch and stuff like that,” Leedom said. “She was really generous.”
Madeline Figenser, also 16 and a friend of Keyes’ and Leedom’s, recalled that Emily loved to dance and described her style as “booty dance.”
“We just loved her,” Figenser said. “We are just sad she’s gone.”
She said Keyes was the first friend she made when she moved to Bailey eight years ago.
“It’s horrible what happened,” she said. “We were all very close.”
Sabrina Blea called childhood friend Keyes an “innocent, sweet, smart person.”
“She suffered before she died, and that’s not fair,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “She didn’t do anything wrong. She was innocent.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry contributed to this report.
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
