Students mourn a friend

SBHS grieves the loss of a fellow student.

By: Melissa Hayes
   In a school as populated as South Brunswick High, it can be difficult to get to know everyone, but sophomore Richard VonDeesten’s personality was so infectious that he left an impression.
   Chelsea Lepore, a junior and friend of Rich’s, said she remembers him for how nice he was to everyone.
   "I know that he was nice to all the people in the school; he was very friendly and he knew a lot of people," she said. "He was very outgoing and very loved by everyone and a lot of people that don’t even know him still feel badly about it."
   Rich, as he was known to friends and family, was killed in a car crash on Route 1 early Monday morning. According to police, the crash appears to have been intentional, a suicide pact between Rich and the 16-year-old driver, Joshua Aanestad. Joshua survived the crash and is recovering at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. The high school junior now faces criminal charges.
   Rich’s funeral will be held today (Thursday) at the Brunswick Memorial Home in East Brunswick. It will be open to the public from 2 to 4 p.m., after which the funeral home will be closed for a private family ceremony.
   Rich loved the outdoors, golf, music and his guitar, according to obituary information provided by Brunswick Memorial Funeral Home.
   He is survived by his parents, Mark and Linda Radcliffe VonDeesten; his sister, Megan; and his paternal grandparents, Richard and Emma VonDeesten of East Brunswick.
   Although Rich’s family and many of his friends said they did not want to talk with the press about the tragedy, some were willing to speak, describing a high school community in mourning.
   In honor of Rich, his close friends decided that they would wear his favorite colors, green and pink, to school on Tuesday.
   "He always wore a green shirt and he liked pink," said friend Rob Goodwin, a sophomore.
   Rob said he was surprised at the number of people wearing the colors.
   "It showed that he was really friends with everyone," he said.
   Rich’s friends also found a way for students to express their thoughts and feelings while at school.
   "There was this thing at school today, a memorial-type thing that a lot of his close friends put together," Rob said Tuesday. "There was pictures out and a place for people to sign a book and music playing that he liked."
   Rich is remembered by the school community for his music and poetry.
   "He was always in for a good time," Rob said. "He’d bring his guitar a lot and play during lunch; he was really good at poetry too."
   Rob said "MMMbop" by Hanson was playing in the hallway, where students could sign a journal that will be given to Rich’s parents at the funeral today. He said that Rich wasn’t a big fan of the band, but he liked to play the song to make people laugh.
   "He’d do just anything to get a laugh," Rob said.
   Students also wrote messages on Rich’s locker in dry erase markers.
   Creative writing teacher Joyce Lott remembers taking Rich and classmates to the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Hillsborough in September.
   "Mark Doty was his favorite poet at the festival," she said. "He had a wonderful time."
   Rich took her class for only two months before he dropped it, but Ms. Lott still remembers his writing skills.
   "He was a bright, creative student and I hope that the things that he’s written, that his notebook is still there," she said.
   She said students in the section of her class that Rich was in spoke about him Tuesday.
   "One of the students in that class wrote a beautiful piece about him," she said.
   Rob said the atmosphere at the school has been somber and quiet.
   "Apparently during his gym period it was dead silent, no one talked," he said.
   The family has asked that donations be made in Rich’s honor to a college fund for his sister, Megan, with whom he had a special relationship.