The tragic tale of a hidden monument

Nestled under a tree on the corner of Taylor Street and 2nd Street sits a reminder of a ten-year-old forgotten love story.

Jillian K. Boda, 20, was a nursing student at Arizona State University. Her boyfriend, Evan J. Parkison, 21, had just graduated from Collins College and landed a job in Arizona. By all accounts from their friends and family, they were the life of the party and very much in love.

Their love story ended on March 28, 2007.

Parkison’s car had broken down on the Loop 202, and they were waiting for roadside assistance when a car smashed into them, killing the two instantly.

Nicholas A. Fina, 25, was driving erratically. Witnesses attempted to get him out of the car, but he fled on foot. Police eventually arrested him, and Fina was charged with two counts of manslaughter. He was sentenced in 2008 to 26 years in the Arizona State Department of Corrections in Globe. His prison record shows a long history of violent altercations, drug use and violence during his incarceration.

Boda’s sister found out about her death on the news; the police couldn’t notify her family fast enough. But in an interview with the State Press Magazine after her death, Stephanie Boda chooses to remember her sister and Parkison happily.

The in-ground plaque just outside of the ASU nursing building was installed one year and one day after their death. Andrew Rascon, a friend of Boda’s since high school, thought they could memorialize her legacy with a pink orchid tree — her favorite color. It’s overgrown now, and largely forgotten by the thousands of students passing by who don’t know Boda’s and Parkison’s love story. Stephanie said in the SPM interview that her sister is memorialized in many places — her cremated remains, the MySpace page where so many left kind words, and this plaque on her campus. The world will not forget this love story any time soon.