Naya Rivera fans said their goodbyes Saturday night, as they gathered near the lake that took her life.
The vigil was personal as fans told stories about Naya and how she touched their lives. The role that many fans singled out … Naya playing Santana Lopez, a lesbian character on “Glee.” Some of the fans said watching her play Santana gave them the courage to come out.
One fan starkly said, “Without ‘Glee,’ I swear I would not be here. I would not be alive.”
The fans organized on the Twitter fan page, “Naya Army,” and they came from various states to celebrate her life and mourn her death.
The banks of Lake Piru were festooned with various memorials for Naya, who was swimming with her son last month when something went horribly wrong. Naya’s body was found 4 days after she went missing.