Ronnie L. Scroggins [45062]
Peninsula Daily News [WA], 20 Mar 2007
Services to be held Friday for boy, 15, killed in crash
By Paige Dickerson Peninsula Daily News
NEAH BAY - The funeral services for Ronnie Scroggins, 15, who died when a car carrying seven young people crashed into the Elwha River Sunday, have been set for 1 p.m. Friday at the Neah Bay High School Gym.
Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at Harper-Ridgeview Funeral Chapel in Port Angeles, 105 W. Fourth St.
The Rev. Andrew Winck will officiate over the service, and burial will be at Neah Bay Cemetery.
An open house potluck dinner will be in the high school gym, 3560 Deer St., after the burial.
Scroggins, who was enrolled member of the Makah tribe, was in Port Angeles visiting his biological mother for the weekend, his adoptive mother, Marla Tolliver [45063], said in Neah Bay on Monday.
A car carrying seven teenagers drove into the Elwha River at about 3 a.m. Sunday.
Five managed to escape the car as it moved in the currents about 100 yards downriver toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation.
The driver, Sela Kalama, 19, stands charged with involuntary manslaughter in federal court.
The other four survivors have not been identified.
Scroggins, a freshman at Neah Bay High School, and Vanna Francis, a senior at Port Angeles High School and an enrolled member of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, died in the wreck.
Services for Francis, 17, are pending.
Neah Bay School - which includes the middle school, high school and elementary school - had counselors on hand Monday and Tuesday for students to talk with.
Students also were given the opportunity to make artwork or send cards to the family to honor Scroggins.
"We also have a memory wall for them to post on," Principal Ann Renker said.
Scroggins played basketball and was an honors student, said his mother.
"He lived for basketball," she said.
Scroggins was born Jan. 30 1992 in Seattle.
He is survived by parents, Marla Tolliver [45063] and his stepfather, Vern Tolliver, of Neah Bay, Larry Scroggins II [45065] and his stepmother, Tawnia Scroggins [45066], of Forks and his biological mother, Carmen DiVincenzo [45064], and her husband, Robert, of Port Angeles.
He is also survived by grandparents Jan LaChester, of Neah Bay, John and Elaine Richardson, of Neah Bay, Terry and Irene Burdick, of Rockfalls, Ill., and Candy Torneby, of Forks; his brothers, Darryl Svec, Brian Svec and Anthony DiVincenzo, all of Port Angeles, Joshua Torneby, of Forks, and Jon Tolliver, of Neah Bay; his sisters, Emma Torneby, of Forks, and Amy Tolliver, of Neah Bay; as well as numerous cousins nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his grandfather Batch LaChester.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached 360-417-3535 or [send email to paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com via gmail] paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: March 20. 2007 9:00PM
Peninsula Daily News [WA], 24 Mar 2007
Neah Bay teen remembered for his love of basketball
Neah Bay High School students view posters that memorialize their classmate, Ronnie Scroggins, at his funeral Friday. -- Photo by Jim Casey/Peninsula Daily News
By Jim Casey, Peninsula Daily News
NEAH BAY - Members of the Makah tribe call themselves "people of the water," but Friday found them on a sea of tears for a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman.
Funeral services for revered elder Mary McQuillen, will take place at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the gym of Neah Bay High School.
That's where several hundred people gathered Friday to bid farewell to popular teenager Ronnie L. Scroggins.
Mr. Scroggins died last Sunday when a car in which he and six other youths were riding plunged into the Elwha River.
The crash also killed Vanna Francis, 17, of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, who was buried Saturday.
In Neah Bay on Friday, mourners filled the bleachers and the basketball floor that was a focus of Scroggins' life.
A basketball and his No. 24 Red Devils jersey were placed on his open white casket.
Later, the Rev. Andrew Winck's homily used basketball as a metaphor for life.
Scenes of boy's life
The teen's funeral opened as projectors flashed scores of scenes from Mr. Scroggins' 15 years of life, from infant to adolescent, onto twin screens that flanked the bier.
Some of them elicited ripples of gentle laughter from the mourners.
Much of the time, though, the gym was as hushed as it ever has been when filled with people.
Mr. Scroggins was eulogized by Neah Bay High School Principal Ann Renker, who spoke of the young man's infectious smile, sense of humor and voracious appetite for chili, Chinese food and corn dogs.
An honor student, he once told Renker he was "'pumped up' because his scholastic achievements were increasing," she said, and he looked forward to attending college.
Mr. Scroggins also was one of the most popular students at the school.
"More teenagers at Neah Bay High School considered Ronnie to be their best friend than any other student," Renker said.
'The best 15 years'
Renker also quoted Mr. Scroggins' adoptive mother, Marla Tolliver, who told her departed son, "You gave me the best 15 years of my life."
In his homily, Winck spoke of the "split-second decisions" that basketball requires of its players.
"You do it by instinct," the pastor said.
Mr. Scroggins' instincts failed him, though, "when he decided to ride with someone who was drinking and driving," Winck said.
"That seemingly minor decision was a major decision. That one decision had results that were a tragedy."
The car's 19-year-old driver, Sela Kalama of Queets, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
It has jurisdiction because the deaths occurred on the Lower Elwha reservation and involved members of more than one tribe.
Kalama, a member of the Quinault tribe, has been released pending an April 2 preliminary hearing.
Winck and the Revs. Richard Butler and James Kallappa quoted several sections of Scripture during the service.
Perhaps the most piercing quotation, however, came from Renker.
"We are being forced to let go of someone we love," she said.
Then Renker read from one of Mr. Scroggins' own essays:
"Courage," he had written, "is letting go of the thing that you love."
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at [send email to jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com via gmail] jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: March 24. 2007 9:00PM
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