Unexpected Malibu Student Death Prompts Outpouring Of Support

MALIBU, CA — Pepperdine University community members gathered Wednesday for a prayer vigil in memory of student Autumn Tennison, 21, a junior who died Monday.

Tennison's death was "unexpected," said Dan Rodriguez, one of Tennison's teachers at Pepperdine.

Tennison's cause of death was still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

Eleanor Atienza-Tennison, Tennison's mother, suggested that she may have taken too much medication accidentally.

A crowd of more than 100 Pepperdine community members on Wednesday evening came together at the Pepperdine amphitheater to share stories about Tennison, pray together and sing. Tennison's parents, Eleanor Atienza-Tennison and Gary Tennison, thanked the community for their support.

"Autumn would have loved this," Atienza-Tennison said.

The amphitheater was filled with tears, hugs and some scattered bouts of laughter following stories about Autumn Tennison and her dog, Finley. Near the end of the vigil the audience lit up the amphitheater with fake candles while a university chaplain played a song on the guitar. The evening closed with a performance by Won by One, a spiritual Pepperdine a cappella group.

Autumn Tennison graduated from Robinson High School in Robinson, Illinois, before coming to Pepperdine. She was studying creative writing and loved to write short fiction and poetry, Rodriguez said. She had hoped to be a writer or editor, potentially for a magazine about marine life, given her love of the ocean.

Autumn Tennison was a member the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at Pepperdine, and her sorority sisters passed out roses at the end of the vigil.

Friends, teachers and family members remembered Autumn Tennison as a "good friend," someone who made her loved ones feel seen and heard. Though she was often quiet, she was not afraid to share her love freely, Rodriguez said.

She was forgiving and "incredibly kind," always sensitive to the unspoken needs of those around her, Autumn Tennison's friends told Rodriguez. The audience giggled when Rodriguez called Autumn Tennison fashionable.

Autumn Tennison had difficulty managing her mental health, her mother said. She and Autumn's father assured her friends their efforts to help her were successful. She was loved and supported by many but struggled to see that sometimes, Gary Tennison said.

Gary Tennison asked students to support each other and to always seek help when they are struggling.

"At times like these, we don't know where to turn, but we turn to love," University Chaplain Sara Barton said.