It seems just about everyone who had ever met Will Lamoreaux has a memory to cherish.
Friend Amy Reed remembers the time she went with him to Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, and Will ordered a cup of bacon.
Or, how about the time Will dressed up as a Hooters girl and then went to the famous wings chain? There’s photographic evidence of that one, and he even earned a tip.
Will’s grandmother, Cathy LaGarde, remembers attending his first-grade math competitions.
“I had always thought that I was pretty smart until then,” she says. “They would show the question on the overhead, and he would have the answer written down with his hand up, before I could finish reading the question.”
Friend Molly Coovert will never forget the months of courting Will did to convince her to go to Homecoming with her their senior year. First, it was a potato with the question, “Homecoming?” written on it. Then, she pulled into school to find three watermelons that, together, read, “Please Say Yes.” A short time later, she arrived to school to see a pumpkin in her parking spot. “Third Time’s the Charm,” it read.
Ultimately, Will did convince Coovert to be his date for Homecoming — thanks to the adorable eyes of a beagle puppy she later named Lucy.
Will Lamoreaux, the eccentric, 2013 graduate of Plant City High School with the fiery red hair, died in a single-vehicle rollover crash Jan. 1, near Tipton, Ind. He was 19.
Will was living out one of his lifelong dreams at the time of accident — criss-crossing the United States and Canada on an extended road trip. According to reports from the Kokomo Tribune, he was driving a 2002 Pontiac Aztek when he lost control and drove into a ditch. The vehicle flipped multiple times.
Tipton County Sheriff’s Office reports said Will was ejected from the vehicle. Sheriff deputies and Cicero Township volunteer firefighters arrived at the scene and found Will unconscious and unresponsive.
His passenger, a 14-year-old cousin, suffered extensive damage to her arm.
Officers said speed and roadway conditions were factors in the crash.
Days after the accident, Will’s mother, Caron Leddon, traveled to the accident site. Originally, police reports indicated Will was not wearing his seat belt. On her trip to Indiana, she learned why.
“William did have his seat belt on when he was driving,” Leddon said. “He released it trying to get out when he realized they were in trouble, but both of them had them on.
“The way the accident happened was a complete and total accident,” she said. “It was very dark, snow everywhere, and more had started falling, which is very slick. I was at the accident site … and it’s a two-lane road, with big deep ditches — at least three feet or so — on each side.
“His tire went off the road, pulled them into the unknown deep areas and flipped their vehicle back over front twice, ejecting him,” Leddon said. “His cousin was able to exit; however, the vehicle mangled her arm, and she got beaten up pretty badly. We know that he saved her life first. My son lived as and died a hero.”
At Plant City High School, Will was involved with a variety of extracurricular activities, including Future Business Leaders of America and JROTC. He also was part of the drama club and served as technical director for the Calendar Girls show.
Somehow, Will transcended the cliques that typically delineate high school life. As news of his death spread last week, high school friends all took to Facebook, replacing their profile photos with images with of themselves with Will. A special group, “The Life and Memories of Will Lamoreaux,” had grown to about 500 members in less than a week.
“He was compassionate, kind, adventurous and was truly his own person,” Coovert said. “I think that’s why he is missed by so many: He was brave enough to be himself in a society that pressures conformity, and we all admired that.
“If you didn’t know Will personally, you certainly knew of him,” she said. “He was the unique soul who ignored social norms and expectations and pursued his own dreams, yet he accomplished it in a completely altruistic way by putting his own personal issues aside for a friend in need.
“That is rare these days, to have a genuine friend, and Will was a genuine friend to everyone he met,” Coovert said. “In high school, I never realized how many people’s lives he had touched, and Will being the humble giving person he was, I’m not sure he did, either. But, I truly hope he knew how loved he was. “It’s so evident now that he’s gone, but I hope he knew how much he meant to me, our high school and our community, when he was with us.”
Friend Casey Hamilton remembers working with Will on Plant City High’s morning television show, “RaiderTV.”
“We normally spent our time roaming the halls of PCHS on bicycles, taking the rolling bottoms of the trash cans off to skate on top of them, and climbing on unsuspecting people’s backs — something that Will called, ‘Slothing,’” Hamilton said. “He was saving money to visit a sloth farm in Colombia. God, did he ever want to go to that.
“Will was a great friend, and truly it was an honor to be called his good friend,” he said. “He was a carefree spirit, a breath of fresh air in an unoriginal world. Will was everyone’s best friend. Not just a few people, everyone. He had a way of captivating you with the way he went about his life, never planning anything, just going with the flow. He never stopped learning, and he never stopped loving. Just some of the many things he had mastered.
Longtime friend Sarah Greene recalled Will’s many interesting outfits.
“He wore my short shorts on St. Patrick’s day at the Florida State Thespian Festival,” she said. “That was great. They fit him better than me.
“He always wanted to cuddle,” Greene said. “That was all he wanted. And one time, we cuddled for an entire night. It made him incredibly happy. Just to hold someone close.”
Memories came from as far away as Germany. Sarah Weyers, a 2010 exchange student, wrote a portrait about him for her university’s blog. On her first day at Plant City High, Will had taken her under his wing, helping her find her classes and get through the day.
“He drew a map on the back of my schedule, which I kept and carried around in my wallet; I still do,” Weyers said. “He said it was just in case I couldn’t find my way around when he wasn’t at school. I secretly hoped that wouldn’t happen, because I figured I’d be pretty much lost without him in this huge building.
“Will hasn’t only helped me through my struggles to find my way though the hallways but also with life,” she said. “He was one of the very few people (who) always made time for me when I was down. He talked me though so many moments of homesickness and heartaches, like barely anyone else did.”
He is survived by his parents, Caron and Bobby Leddon; younger brother, David Lamoreaux; grandparents; aunts and uncles; and many friends.
His wonderful spirit, talents and compassion for life will be remembered at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, at Hopewell Funeral Home, 6005 C.R. 39 S., Plant City. Feel free to bring keepsakes and stories to share. They will be placed into Will’s childhood toy box and kept with him.
Online condolences can be made to the family at wecare.io.