Wilberger's friends gather

PROVO — Friends of missing BYU student Brooke Wilberger expressed sadness, but also faith as they gathered for a prayer vigil Tuesday night to remember Brooke one year after her disappearance.

Brittany Knight, a friend who would have been Brooke's roommate in Brigham Young University student housing, organized the vigil.

"There's not much I can do right now, but if I can do something, I should, and it just seemed highly appropriate for the situation," said Knight, a sophomore from Bountiful.

Knight said she tried to remember Brooke today by enjoying things her friend would enjoy. Several of Brooke's female friends and relatives bought a pair of shoes today in honor of the footwear-loving Brooke.

"Brooke wants you to be happy, and so make your life good, and make every single day happy, because that's exactly what Brooke would want," Knight said.

Friends also said a prayer for Brooke's comfort and return, and observed a moment of silence in her honor. A song written for Brooke by family friend Jim Webb was also performed, the lyrics pleading with God to help find Brooke.

During a press conference earlier in the day at the family's Oregon home, Greg Wilberger, Brooke's father, said, "It's been a hard year, as you can probably imagine. You keep hoping every week that you will hear something, and as the weeks drag on you realize that it might take longer, you have to learn to have a lot of patience and a lot of trust and keep hoping."

Cammy Wilberger, Brooke's mother said, "You come to a realization that finding her alive is probably not as big as a percentage as you'd hoped for in the beginning. That's probably one of the biggest differences. Our hope right now is not the same that it was a year ago, because then we had great hope that we would find her alive. But as the months wear on, you still have that hope though, you don't give that up."

"She's a fighter, and we are not about to give up," said close family friend Janelle Blake. "We know that we'll see her again sometime."

Blake read lyrics of a song written by her brother Justin, Brooke's boyfriend, who will return from an LDS mission in a few weeks.

"The days go on, there's still the pain — Why did you take my breath of fresh air/ And leave me to hear that you're not there," she read. "He wanted to send that tribute out to her, so that she knows he still loves her."

Blake said her brother has faith that the Lord is with Brooke, wherever she is.