Rikki Olds’ family, friends and coworkers remember her as a vibrant and bubbly woman who would go to extreme lengths to make anyone smile.

Even if she was having the worst day of her life or was sick to her stomach, Rikki was always ready to tell a joke or start dancing to make someone else smile.

Carlee Lough, a friend and King Soopers employee, recalled a time when she was upset and pushing shopping carts back into the store when Rikki began dancing in front of her, customers and everyone at the front of the store to see. 

All in an attempt to make Lough smile.

“She would do anything to make (you) smile,” Lough said. “If you needed a pick-me-up, you knew where to go.”

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Olds, 25, was one of the 10 people killed during a mass shooting in a Boulder King Soopers on Monday, while working as the store manager.

“There’s a hole in our family that will never be filled,” said Robert Olds, Rikki’s uncle. “We’ll try to fill it with memories, but it’s tough.”

Robert Olds said the thing that hurts the most is that his 25-year-old niece will never get to experience some of the best parts in life.

“I’m saddened that she didn’t get to experience motherhood, she didn’t get to experience marriage … she didn’t get to experience a lot of stuff in life,” Robert Olds said.

But despite the immense pain those closest to her are feeling, they know she wouldn’t want anyone to be sad, said Jermicah Mills, a coworker, roommate and friend of Rikki.  

“Anyone who knows Rikki knows that she would want us to be happy, she would want us to wipe our tears away and throw a massive, raging party for her, and have good times and enjoy life,” Mills said. “She would want us to be happy through these times, and we’re trying out absolute best.”

Robert Olds said he believes his niece grew up “wanting to be that nurturing person,” he said. 

Her nurturing, happy, free-spirited personality lead her to pursue a career in nursing and attend Front Range Community College after she graduated from Centaurus High School in 2013.

However, those plans changed, and she found another calling.

“Rikki had a back-up plan and was pursuing her dream of being a store manager at King Soopers,” Robert Olds said.

Because of those changes, Rikki was introduced to several people she became life long friends with such as Brittany Tubbs and her fiancé Mills. 

“She was just as goofy as I was, so we could do things like what we called our octopus dance, or make what we call Velociraptor noises at each other,” Tubbs said.

Tubbs moved to Colorado from Iowa in 2016 and within weeks became friends with Rikki. As their friendship developed they gave each other nicknames, and to Tubbs not hearing her best friend yell out ‘Panini’ — that was inspired by Gordon Ramsay calling someone a ‘panini head on TV’ — is what she’ll miss the most.

“I’m going to miss being wherever she is or walking into the apartment or work or anything of that sort and just hearing a loud ‘Hi Panini’ or ‘Panini,'” she said while tearing up.

Mills and Tubbs said they are planning to honor their best friend by naming their first child Rikki, and they are already looking forward to explaining the origin of their name.

“I get to tell them the story of the heroic, absolutely bubbly, sarcastic, amazing person that they got their name from,” Tubbs said.

And while many of her family members, friends and colleagues continue the mourn the loss over their Rikki, Andy Arellanl, a meat and seafood employee at King Soopers, said she’s watching over everyone more than ever before. 

“Rikki’s an angel right now,” Arellanl said. “She was a wonderful, wonderful person and was a very nice girl, so I know she’s watching over us more than ever before.”

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