Former student was fun, 'quirky'

By James Patrick Schmidt

Published April 27, 2007

Christopher Sloan was described as someone who was personable to everyone around him and lived with a sense of humor.

Mr. Sloan, a former MU student who was attending Avila University in Kansas City, was fatally shot April 17 in Kansas City, Kan., police said. He was 22 years old.

"He was quirky," his sister, Danielle Sloan said. "That's the best way to describe him."

Mr. Sloan's personality endeared him to others, and he always amused family and friends.

"He used to come into my room when he was getting ready and ask me how he looked," Danielle Sloan said. "Usually, it's the sister doing that to her brother, but he always did it to me."

Mr. Sloan was also a night owl, his sister said. She said he often stayed up all night and got Taco Bell or McDonalds in the middle of the night or made food at home.

"My favorite memories are when I would come home late at night and he would come home late, too, and at 2 a.m. we would make pizza and tell funny stories about our nights," she said.

Mr. Sloan also used his personality to play into a friendly rivalry with his sister since he attended MU, and she is a student at KU, she said.

Mr. Sloan also loved music, writing and banana milkshakes.

"He loved his music," Danielle Sloan said. "He could sit in his car and drive and think for hours. He was deep."

Danielle Sloan said her brother wanted to move to a coastal state.

"He loved the beach and the ocean and dreamed of moving to California or Florida," Danielle said. "He felt that he would fit in better on the coast."

Mr. Sloan was an alumni member of Sigma Nu fraternity at MU, and his fraternity brothers remember him as active and fun.

"He was a very sweet person," his pledge brother junior Eric Jensen said. "He would always come up and ask how you were doing. He joked around a lot with everyone, and he kind of had a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time sometimes, but he always meant well."

Jensen said being with Mr. Sloan was always fun, and he remembered having a good time when the two shared a hotel room at the fraternity's semiformal at the Lake of the Ozarks their freshman year.

Mr. Sloan is survived by his father, David Sloan, Lee's Summit; his mother, Stephni Welty, Lenexa, Kan.; a step-father, Sonny Welty, Lenexa, Kan.; sister, Danielle Sloan, Lawrence, Kan.; and a step-sister, Alana Welty, Lawrence, Kan.

Services for Mr. Sloan took place on Saturday at Northland Cathedral in Kansas City.