Funeral arrangements are pending for Dawn Brancheau. A memorial page for Dawn Brancheau has been set up on Facebook, an obituary posted on Legacy, and calls for Shamu theatre to be renamed in memory of Dawn Brancheau.

Here is the latest.

Dawn Brancheau is being remembered in an online memorial set up on Facebook. Among comments on the wall are remarks by people who worked with Dawn.

One message reads:

Here is a photo of me with Dawn in 2007 when I was doing a camp program at SeaWorld. She was such an amazing person who loved working with the whales.

For the Facebook profile, click HERE

Another states:

I worked at Sea World for 3 years in Entertainment and had the privilege of meeting Dawn and working with her on the install of Shamu Rocks. Just in that short time I could tell that she had a passion for what she did. She was always full of joy when I saw her around the park, both back stage and in the park with guests. I …will never forget her…

To all of the Shamu Trainers and everyone else at Sea World who knew Dawn, I pray for your safety and I pray that you rejoice in the memories of her.

Dawn Brancheau and Tilikum Pictures Set 1
Dawn Brancheau Tilikum Picture 1
Dawn Brancheau Tilikum Picture 2
Dawn Brancheau Tilikum Picture 3

Excepts from the obituary reads:

“Brancheau’s older sister, Diane Gross, said the trainer wouldn’t want anything done to the whale because she loved the animals like children. The trainer was married and didn’t have children.

” “She loved the whales like her children, she loved all of them,” said Gross, of Schererville, Ind. “They all had personalities, good days and bad days.” “

It adds that Dawn’s love of animals and marine life started at a young age.

“Dawn was the youngest of six children who grew up near Cedar Lake, Indiana. Her passion for marine life began at the age of nine, Gross said, on a family trip to Sea World.”

Dawn Brancheau and Tilikum Pictures Set 2
Dawn Brancheau Tilikum Picture 4
Dawn Brancheau Tilikum Picture 5
Dawn Brancheau Tilikum Picture 6

“According to a profile of Brancheau in the Sentinel in 2006, she was one of SeaWorld Orlando’s leading trainers. Brancheau worked her way into a leadership role at Shamu Stadium during her career with SeaWorld, starting at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium before spending 10 years working with killer whales, the newspaper said.”

For continuing coverage of Dawn Brancheau’s death on LALATE click here: http://news.lalate.com/category/animals.