Obituary of Khrista Noelle Ibarolle

Khrista Noelle Ibarolle, age 31, of El Dorado Hills, CA and formerly of Yankton, SD died January 7, 2015 suddenly from a random act of violence shortly after celebrating her 31 birthday with a friend. Khrista will be remembered for her love, hugs and desires of peace. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 AM, Thursday, January 15, 2015 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Rev. John Rutten officiating. Cremation will follow the mass with the burial of her cremated remains taking place a later date. Visitations will begin at 5:00 PM, Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with a wake service at 7:00 PM. Visitations will resume one hour prior to the service at the church. The Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home & Crematory, Yankton, is assisting with service details. Memorials are directed to "in Khrista's Memory" Fund, 1st Dakota National Bank, 225 Cedar Street, Yankton, SD 57078. Khrista Noelle Ibarolle was born on December 22, 1983, and left us to dance in the sunsets on January 7, 2015. Originally named Christa Noelle for the pending holiday season, her father, Wayne, impulsively changed the "C" to a "K" just before he submitted the birth certificate in order to "give her some backbone" for the other "seasons." She filled those seasons and every second of her 31 years, 15 days, and 18 hours with compassionate, radiating, inclusive love. A graduate of Yankton High School in 2002, Khrista flipped, vaulted, and kicked her way into adulthood. She became a pianist, a philanthropist, an artist and a pacifist. Khrista attended the University of Life: called by her creative spirit and the mountains to Lake Tahoe, where her wild heart developed a deep love for the splendor and power of God and nature. When the Lake Tahoe Aurora fire left her with nothing but her snowboard and her dog, Khrista's true passion for gems and jewelry design emerged from the ashes. She pursued this dream as she did all things in her life, with wide-eyed wonderment, fervor and creativity. She enrolled in the California Institute of Jewelry Training in Citrus Heights California, where she earned her certification in gemology and jewelry design and jewelry appraisal. She purchased the Fine Jewelry Department of the The Consignment Center of Folsom and recently had several original pieces featured at the Yankton Area Arts, Crimson Door. Khrista believed there was no such thing as a "semi-precious stone"; all were precious if they helped a person resonate happiness and connect with the beauty she felt we all have within us. It's hard to confine such a free spirit to nouns and verbs, so we'll take a nod from Khrista: · If you've ever brightened a stranger's day with a smile or a helping hand, then you know a little about Khrista. · If you've ever defied convention and found happiness along your own path, · If you've ever dared to ask, "Why not?" · If you've ever found profound beauty in gemstones or were moved to revered silence by the beauty of the natural world, · If you've ever made beautiful things from nothing, using only natural elements and your own imaginative skill, and given them freely to friends and strangers, · If you've ever twirled, frolicked, basked, flit, or flown, · If your guardian angel has ever worked overtime, with a sweet impish grin that matches your own, · If you've ever found your soul mate in the paws of a rescued puppy, · If you've ever seen the wealth of the gift in the act of the giving, · If you've ever bear hugged the jelly out of someone because you just loved them so much, · If you've ever left the world better than you found it, If any or all of these things are true, then you know what it means to be Khrista and what loving Khrista has meant to us. Allow the spirit Khrista to live within you and be comforted by the thought. Khrista is survived by parents, Wayne and Lori Ibarolle, brother Jerod and sister-in-law Ashley Ibarolle, sister Shanna Ibarolle Koenig and nephew Joshua, sister Leslie and brother-in-law Jesse , Godson Dominic Mead, Grandma Isabelle (Langel) and Dick Laddusaw, and dog, Anela. She joins her Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dorothy Ibarolle, and Grandpa William Langel for a beer and a giant bear hug that wraps the planet. Left to remember her uniqueness and energy are numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. Khrista had no friends, for everyone she met she considered family. Khrista embraced life in full color and we want to celebrate Khrista in the same way. Be bright. Be bold. Be yourself. Come in your favorite jewelry. Come in the tie and the funky socks that make you smile. Let Khrista's light and love shine. Let her legacy live through each of us, every day we are still here.