Benefit concert in memory of woman from Maple Ridge in Haney

When Joe Horrocks learned of the death of his good friend's daughter, he tried to express his grief through music.

Jenna Hepperle was only 20 when she and another friend were killed in an accident on the side of Highway 1 in Burnaby on February 18. Hepperle was on her way home from another friend's birthday party with three of her best friends when one of them became ill. The Uber stopped and the group was struck from behind by another vehicle.

Horrocks said he was very close to Jenna and almost immediately after learning of her death, he wrote a song in her honor – a song he will perform with his friend, renowned guitarist Dave Martone, at a memorial concert for Jenna on Tuesday, August 6, at the Haney Public House, with all proceeds going to her family.

“They called themselves 'The Four Musketeers' because they were that close,” Black said of the four friends, noting that the girls did everything right that night by taking an Uber after a night of drinking.

“I think about her every day,” said Horrocks, who met Jenna when she was a toddler.

She and her brother knew him as Uncle Joe, the uncle who spun them in circles as fast as he could and then watched them fall over because they were so dizzy.

“They couldn’t get enough of it,” he said, giggling as he recalled happier times.

Then, he said with a choked breath, he watched Jenna grow into a cultured, intelligent young woman.

One of his last meetings with Jenna was on Valentine's Day. She helped him pick out roses for her mother.

Four days later the crash occurred.

“Then she was gone,” he said, remembering that he had laughed a lot in the kitchen just a few days earlier.

“The crazy thing was that those roses were joined by an army of flowers no less than four or five days later,” he said after she died.

Horrocks, who performs under the stage name Jody Black, will sing about 18 songs at the concert with Martone, who is currently touring and recording with Juno Award-winning band Bif Naked. He is responsible for a guitar track on Nickelback's latest song, “Get Em Up.” The performance will include Horrocks' song, “The 4 Musketeers,” dedicated to Jenna, which deals with the theme of shortened lives, seizing the moment and loving the people who love you.

“I remember a beautiful little girl growing up and I remember her saying to me, 'I love you, Joey.'”

On the way to heaven's gate we could walk through rainbow waterfalls

“When we're young we'll never give up, have fun, fall in love, enjoy the days when we're gone, Well we'll share them together after we've made love along the way,” the lyrics go.

During the evening concert, Horrocks will be holding prize drawings and a 50/50 raffle with all proceeds going to Jenna's family.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased before the show at the bar at the Haney Public House, 22222 Lougheed Highway, corner of 222 Street and Lougheed Highway, in Maple Ridge. They will also be available at the box office the night of the concert.

For more information, call 604-463-3811.