By Aaron Besecker
LEWISTON — A solitary peach- and red-colored rose sat on an empty English class desk at Lewiston-Porter High School on Thursday.
The desk only a day before belonged to Christopher J. D’Angelis, the 17-year-old senior killed Wednesday in a one-car crash on Ridge Road.
Another student placed the lone flower on her lost classmate’s desk, said senior Lisa Bignell, who sat at a desk in front of D’Angelis in class.
“It was just kind of a shock,” she said of her classmate’s death.
At the crash site Thursday afternoon, bouquets of flowers, black and brown plush teddy bears and a small wooden cross memorialized the scene, laying among small bits of black plastic and tattered tree bark left over from the wreckage. The brown stuffed bear laid on the ground like it was sleeping, hugging the cross.
Lewiston Police, who responded to the scene along with the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department and Upper Mountain Volunteer Fire Co., are still investigating the exact cause of the crash. A witness told police D’Angelis’ car drifted off the road just after 3 p.m. as he was traveling eastbound on Ridge Road between Dickersonville and Porter Center roads.
Interim Lew-Port Superintendent Don Rappold said the student had participated in Tech Wars 2006 at Niagara County Community College earlier in the day. He was driving home from school at the time of the accident.
“He was a good kid that everyone liked,” Rappold said.
Back on the Lew-Port campus, Bignell and her classmates met with a school administrator and a guidance counselor Thursday during English class. The students had an assignment to write a poem about love which was also due. Bignell was struck by the timing of the poem and the tragedy.
“This is really the day we needed to talk about it,” she said. “It’s really sad.”
D’Angelis liked to laugh, Bignell said, and the two often joked about how he looked like actor Adam Sandler.
Classmate Alex Ruckh shared Participation in Government and gym class with D’Angelis, who had transferred from Sweet Home High School in the fall.
“He always had a smile on his face,” Ruckh said, standing outside Lew-Port High School on Thursday.
Ruckh also introduced D’Angelis to volunteering at Upper Mountain Volunteer Fire Co. D’Angelis had been a fire company member for two months and was on his way to taking training classes and becoming a full member.
“I’ve never seen a person more passionate about being a firefighter or an EMT,” Ruckh said.
Upper Mountain Assistant Chief Jonathan Schultz described D’Angelis as an eager, energetic person who came to all the company’s drills willing to learn what it takes to be a volunteer firefighter.
“He was just so excited about it,” Schultz said.
It made it tough for D’Angelis’ fellow firefighters when they responded and treated him at the accident scene, Schultz said.
Angela Par Dee,cq a 2004 Lew-Port graduate and another of D’Angelis’ fellow firefighters at Upper Mountain, spent part of Thursday counseling some of his classmates on the phone.
Par Dee was on one of Upper Mountain’s trucks responding to an emergency call at the same time emergency responders were working at the accident, and drove through the Ridge Road scene on the way to the call.
It wasn’t until about 30 minutes later that Par Dee was told one of her fellow firefighters was involved in the horrible crash.
“He may not be around anymore, but he did touch all of our lives,” she said.
Par Dee hailed D’Angelis’ devotion to and excitement about becoming a volunteer firefighter. It was only a few weeks ago when D’Angelis got his emergency pager, which he saw as no small feat, she said.
The same excitement could be seen in D’Angelis’ face when he was part of Upper Mountain’s stand-by team at a recent Niagara University women’s basketball game.
“Even the littlest thing he thought was the greatest thing in the world,” she said.
D’Angelis had a willingness to help everyone, and loved what he thought was ahead of him as a member of Upper Mountain.
“He wanted to learn everything, he wanted to absorb everything and just be a part of everything,” Par Dee said. “It was just this spark in his eyes that just lit up.”
A wake will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at M.J. Colucci & Son Niagara Funeral Chapel, 2730 Military Road in the town of Niagara. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. George’s Eastern Orthodox Church, 1073 Saunders Settlement Road.
Family members have asked that anyone wishing to make monetary donations in memory of D’Angelis contribute to Upper Mountain and Lewiston No. 1 Volunteer Fire Cos.
