AMHERST — A week after Emma MacDonald was killed at the UMass Campus Center Hotel, some 300 people formed a circle around her memorial Wednesday afternoon to remember the woman who touched their lives.
Beneath the shade of tents, the weight of the loss was evident in the pile of flowers, notes and candles that had collected on a concrete bench outside the hotel. Butterflies, red wine and her role as a mother figure — both to her own children and her colleagues — are how MacDonald is being remembered by the many mourning her.
MacDonald, who colleagues said was the catering manager at the hotel, was killed on April 22, allegedly at the hands of her husband, UMass chef Jeffrey MacDonald.
While the memorial service began with quiet consolations, the atmosphere shifted as more than a dozen people took the microphone. Grief became audible; many wept openly and reached out to the closest person for hugs and comfort.
When there weren’t speakers, there was a profound silence on the terrace underneath the shadow of Hotel UMass where people gathered to grieve. The silence was only interrupted by tears and sniffling.
“I want people to know who Emma was, not just what happened to her. Emma was one of the kindest and most hardworking people at catering,” said Chiruza Muhimuzi, who worked daily alongside MacDonald for several years.
Nearly half of those gathered wore chef coats — colleagues who had come to know MacDonald through years of side-by-side service.
“She did not just do her job, she cared for people deeply,” Muhimuzi said. “She made everyone feel seen, especially student workers. You could go to her about anything — about life, about class. She would listen with passion and kindness.”
Layza Coelho, a UMass senior and student worker under MacDonald, said she wants people to remember the way MacDonald made people feel.
“As a student coming into a new job, you don’t quite know the support you’re going to get, and I think that Emma was one of the first people to meet me with love and just embrace me and support me through all of it,” she said. “I know that today we’re here to honor her, and so I want everyone to remember the feeling.”
Andy Mazierski worked at UMass from 2021 through 2023, and he still remembers how MacDonald offered him comfort after his sister died.
“Emma was the first one to embrace me, give me a hug and tell me, ‘It’s going to be OK,’” he recalled.
His sister was a huge fan of butterflies, fireflies and ladybugs, like MacDonald, and Mazierski remembers that “a couple days later, I was her driver on the truck, going and catering for a party at the football field. … A ladybug happened to come on the windshield of the truck before we were pulling off the dock, and she said, ‘There’s your sister.'”
He added, “It was Emma’s thing, just to recognize when I was hurting, to cheer me up.”
MacDonald’s 11-year-old daughter also approached the microphone, saying, “I love you and we all miss you so much.”
Wednesday’s vigil, organized by the University Staff Association, comes one week after MacDonald’s husband, Jeffrey MacDonald, 36, of Wilbraham, allegedly beat her to death in room 413 of the hotel they both worked in. He pleaded not guilty to murder and assault and battery on a police officer at his arraignment last week. He is being held without bail and is expected to return to court for a probable cause hearing on May 12.
In a letter to the campus, Chancellor Javier Reyes invited students and faculty to join in a vigil on Tuesday, May 5, at 3 p.m. on the north side of the Campus Center, where the memorial is located.
Members of Safe Passage, a Northampton-based organization that offers services to those impacted by domestic violence, were also present to console people and offer counseling.
