UTICA — Taryn Nicole Pakenham, 18, of Utica, passed away June 10, 2018 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
Private family only services will be Friday at 11 a.m., in the Merritt Funeral Home, Mendota, with Rev. Steven Breedlove officiating. Interment will be private at a later date. Visitation will be Thursday from 4-7 p.m., in the funeral home.
Taryn was born Nov. 11, 1999 in Peru to Dena (Walters) and Dan Pakenham.
She attended Mendota Grade Schools and Waltham Junior High where she was a member of the basketball and volleyball teams. She also played travel softball and more recently women’s slow pitch softball. She was a 2018 graduate of LP High School, and was planning to attend IVCC in the fall to study Criminal Psychology. 
Taryn was an employee in the dining room at Starved Rock Lodge. She loved her cat, Herbie, enjoyed traveling with her mom, spending time with family and friends and being Aunt TT to her special nephew Eastyn. She was looking forward to the arrival of another nephew this summer. Taryn was a good friend to many.
Survivors include her mother and stepfather, Dena and Rodney Steele; her father and stepmother, Daniel and Jenny Pakenham; one brother Dillan (Allison) Pakenham; a sister Kailee Pakenham (William Longmire); step-sisters, Taylor Renner and Kalli Steele; a step brother, Joshua Steele;  one nephew, Eastyn Pakenham; maternal grandparents, Roy and Diane Ayers; paternal grandparents, Terry and Mary Politsch; step grandparents and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandfather, Fred Walters; and paternal grandfather, Daniel Pakenham.
Memorials can be made in Taryn’s memory to IVAR or Ashley’s Battle Buddies (Ashlee Watson medical fund).