Warm and caring, she was looking forward to a medical career

Chen-Wyuan Kari Hsieh didn’t want to trouble her father to drive her from the family’s Newhall home to their restaurant in Simi Valley, her sister said. So she figured out how to get there on the train and climbed aboard Friday.

Hsieh, 18, was among the victims of last week’s deadly Metrolink crash.

“I think she was a really lovely sister and a really lovely daughter,” said Sophia Hsieh, 20. “There’s a lot about my sister that no words can describe.”

Kari Hsieh was just starting her senior year at Hart High School and looking forward to a career in medicine, her sister said. She played tennis for the school and was well liked by her classmates, who described her as warm and caring.

“Anyone who knew her can remember her by her beaming smile and infectious laugh,” one of her classmates posted on the Los Angeles Times website.

“She had such a positive outlook on life and always had something nice to say about everyone,” posted Shelly Eagles-Clayton, who described herself as a parent of a varsity tennis player. “I feel blessed to have been part of her life.”

On her MySpace page, Hsieh said: “I love TENNIS, GREEN, GOD, ANIMALS, FRIENDS, FAMILY, SLEEP, AND EAT . . . (love it with all my passion) um . . . what else. . . . I love to make friends with ppl so your very welcome to add me.”

Hsieh’s parents moved the family from Taiwan to the United States about seven years ago to give the girls more opportunities in life, Sophia Hsieh said. Kari was serious about school and had become president of an organization that promoted higher education, AVID, she said.

She is survived by her parents, her sister and many cousins.

-- Evelyn Larrubia