Memorial honors students killed

Alex Grys, 14, was a boy rarely seen without a smile on his face.

He loved the Chicago Bulls, and his favorite colors even matched the team's red and black jerseys, said his former girlfriend, Lauren McDonel, 13.

Taylor Wozniak, 17, a former cheerleader, was looking forward to Halloween and had just applied to Northern Illinois University's nursing program, said her close friend Christie Berndt, 17.

These are some of memories helping people close to the teens cope with their untimely deaths.

Grys, of Algonquin, and Wozniak, of Lake in the Hills, were killed Friday morning when the 2003 Honda Accord they were passengers in crashed into a dump truck on Haligus Road in Grafton Township near Lakewood, police said. The car was being driven by Grys' older sister Eva, 17. She survived the accident and was upgraded to serious condition Sunday at St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford.

According to the McHenry County Sheriff's office, Eva Grys was driving the car when it veered off the right shoulder of the road. When she steered the car back onto the road, police said, she lost control, crossing into the northbound lane and colliding with the dump truck.

A third passenger in the car, 14-year-old William Schlau, was being treated at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Hospital officials declined to release his condition because he is a minor.

The truck, owned by Snelten Inc., a Lake in the Hills excavation company, was driven by Adam Petry, 23, who was treated at the scene and released.

It was not known Sunday if charges had been filed in the accident.

All four teenagers were students at Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock. When the accident occurred, they had been driving home from school early after final exams.

Those who knew Wozniak and Grys are taking time to pay tribute to them. A memorial that includes flowers, rosaries, photographs, burning candles and two white crosses bearing Wozniak's and Grys' names has since been erected at the crash site.

A headlight and piece of the car's dashboard also are included in the memorial.

"RIP Taylor, you always brought laughter to my world," one message read.

Christie Berndt, who had known Wozniak since the summer of 2004, when the two were cheerleaders, has visited the memorial twice.

Wozniak, who was going to turn 18 in a few weeks, was popular in school, loved life, and usually had a big smile, Berndt said.

She also was a loyal friend, said Berndt, of Algonquin.

In Spanish class, the pair frequently helped each other with their work that proved to be challenging, she said. Moreover, Wozniak, the eldest of four siblings, frequently looked out for her friends and family.

"Whenever you asked for advice, she'd always give it," Berndt said.

Only a month ago, Katie Lutherus, 20, who visited the memorial with her mother, Traci, hired Wozniak to work as a receptionist at a salon in Algonquin Commons.

"She was very outgoing, a very sweet girl and loved to talk to everybody," Lutherus recalled.

Lauren McDonel and her mother, Barb, embraced each other and cried Sunday while they visited the memorial.

Sunday also marked the first anniversary of the first time Alex Grys asked Lauren on a date.

"He was so nice. He was so happy," McDonel recalled.

She and Grys had dated for nearly six months and remained good friends even after they'd broken up, McDonel said.

Grys, who played soccer, basketball and baseball, recently told McDonel, a student at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School, that he couldn't wait until she joined him at the high school. He also vowed to protect her from the upperclassmen who might tease her for being a freshman, she said.

Her mother says he'll now be watching over her daughter from heaven.

"He was a good boy with a lot of spirit," Barb McDonel said.

Funeral arrangements were pending Sunday.