More than 200 mourners remembered Hawaii Pacific University sophomore Mariah Danforth-Moore on the day before Thanksgiving, the latest blow to the tightly knit HPU community already reeling from the deaths of four other students in the past year.

For a university of only 8,071 students, Danforth-Moore’s death just outside HPU’s Hawaii Loa campus Sunday night by an alleged hit-and-run driver struck students particularly hard — especially right before the holidays, HPU clinical psychologist Kevin Bowman said.

Bowman and fellow HPU psychologist Kathryn Berano and HPU’s the Rev. Dale Burke visited the campus dormitories right after Danforth-Moore died and stayed until 4 a.m. as an estimated 150 of the 230 students in residence sought help coping with their grief, Bowman said.

Even more students have come in for individual counseling in the days after Danforth-Moore’s death, Bowman said.

"Because it’s such a small campus, everyone knows each other," Bowman said Wednesday after a "celebration of life" for 19-year-old Danforth-Moore at HPU’s activity center lanai at its Windward Oahu campus. "The students really take care of one another and look out for one another. They’re very close."

HPU students will grieve again Friday night at the Neal Blaisdell Center when HPU junior basketball player Kameron Steinhoff, 21, will be remembered at HPU’s game against Western New Mexico.

Steinhoff was Hawaii’s Player of the Year at Punahou School and became a three-year member of HPU’s basketball team. He died from brain injuries suffered in a skateboarding accident May 16 in Kaneohe.

» On Oct. 2, HPU computer information systems sophomore Brandon Uganiza Yabes, 22, of Kapolei died after jumping from a tower at the off-limits Nuuanu Reservoir. Honolulu Fire Department divers found Yabes’ body in about 25 feet of water.

» On March 31, HPU graduate student John David Tyner, 49, of Waipahu, was killed in a multi-vehicle accident on H-1 freeway while riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Tyner was a retired Navy command master chief. A motorcycle "Ride to Remember" held in his honor benefited the David Tyner Memorial Scholarship for Diplomacy and Military Studies at HPU.

» On Dec. 17 last year, HPU freshman Zachary Manago, 18, was killed near Wheeler Army Airfield during a group, around-the-island bicycle ride. Police arrested a 25-year-old Mililani man for investigation of first-degree negligent homicide and fleeing the scene of an accident.

"It’s not been a great year for HPU," said HPU pre-med senior Maddi Ruhl, 21.

On Feb. 24, 2009, a hit-and-run driver hit Ruhl as she was in the same crosswalk that Danforth-Moore was walking in when she was killed Sunday night.

At Danforth-Moore’s memorial service on Wednesday, there was no mention of how she died — or that a 29-year-old Kapolei man had turned himself in to police on Tuesday.

But there was a moment of closure for Danforth-Moore’s father, Stephen Danforth.

He had moved to Waikiki from Tucson, Ariz., on Oct. 28 to be near his daughter as she began her second year at HPU studying psychology.

Just before Wednesday’s service began, Danforth met Marine Cpl. Chris Goecks, 22, of Camas, Wash., who had stopped along Kamehameha Highway to render aid to Danforth-Moore Sunday night.

During the service, Danforth called Goecks to the podium and the two men hugged each other and cried as Danforth offered thanks to the young Marine.

"It provided a little closure," Danforth told the Star-Advertiser. "I needed to thank him for trying to save my little girl."

Today, Danforth has been invited to HPU’s annual Thanksgiving meal, and then likely will get together with co-workers from his job as a server at Jimmy Buffett’s at the Beachcomber in Waikiki.

As soon as funeral arrangements are made, Danforth plans to fly back home to Oneida, Wis., with his daughter’s body — perhaps as early as Friday — for another service that will include her mother, brother and stepbrother.

Danforth wasn’t certain on Wednesday whether he will return to Hawaii after his daughter’s funeral in Wisconsin.

"I haven’t gotten that far," he said. "Right now I just need to get my baby back home. But I need to thank everyone at HPU for everything they’ve done. They were like her second family."