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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 19, 2005 Funeral for dead teen draws crowd By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings YREKA, Calif. - A light rain fell as more than 100 people - about half of them teenagers - stepped out of a small, wooden church in downtown Yreka on Friday afternoon. They filled the porch of St. Mark's Episcopalian Church and small groups dotted the sidewalk in front building, oblivious to the misting rain. Some whispered, but the sounds of sniffles and choked-back tears rose above conversations. They traveled to Yreka to remember Kevan Thatcher-Stephens, the 17-year-old Ashland High junior killed when his white Jeep Cherokee slammed into a Chevy Blazer at more than 90 mph in downtown Medford on Feb. 11. Family and friends came to St. Mark's to eulogize the boy because he had been baptized at the church. The out-of-town location also gave them a brief reprieve from the law enforcement investigation and the constant barrage of TV, radio and newspaper coverage of the accident, though the fate of the three other victims did not go unmentioned at the service. The Rev. Denis O'Pray took a moment to remember Charles Bench, 26, the driver of the Blazer who also died in the accident, and pray for his wife and three children. He encouraged people to grieve, but to avoid placing blame on anything or anyone because the situation cannot be changed. Wait for the court's decision, O'Pray instructed people, and realize even that will not explain why God took Thatcher-Stephens' life. O'Pray, whose own father was killed in an accident "of his making" that also took the life of another person, directed thoughts to the teenagers in attendance as well. "Youth is dangerous," O'Pray said. "Not everyone is lucky enough to survive." Family and friends of Thatcher-Stephens came forward to speak about their son, brother and friend. They remembered the boy as "very smart" and "someone who taught me to live life in the moment," sometimes pausing to weep or embrace someone standing nearby. The hourlong service concluded with more scripture-reading, prayer and song. Then the two-dozen people crushing in to stand behind the pews and in the doorway of the church filed out of St. Mark's so Thatcher-Stephens' parents, James Richard Stephens and Patrice Thatcher, could carry the urn of their son's ashes out of the church. As the porch and sidewalk in front of the church filled with mourners, a few of the teenage boys at the service clustered around a late-model black pick-up truck blaring hip-hop with heavy bass. People glanced around, first looking disapprovingly toward the source of the music. When they realized the noise wasn't a local cruising up Fourth Street, but one of Thatcher-Stephens' friends doing something the boys normally took part in, shaking heads gave way to half-smiles and quiet laughing. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams