Tri-cities residents lost too soon in 2008

For many in the Tri-Cities, 2008 will be remembered as a gut-wrenching year of loss as accidents and illness claimed many special friends and family members too soon. It was a continued deadly toll for the Kaneland community in December as two high school seniors lost their lives in a car crash on the way to school. St. Charles and Batavia were also hit particularly hard.

Kevin Bryant

Former Batavia High School basketball star Kevin Bryant died June 8, a week after being taken off life support after a rafting accident in Colorado. He had just graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was a three-year varsity basketball player.

Bryant had been rafting down the Poudre River in Fort Collins June 2 when he was thrown from the raft and went under the water. His brain was damaged by a lack of oxygen.

While in high school, Bryant was named to the Daily Herald's All-Area team twice. He helped the Bulldogs win a sectional championship in 2003 and a regional title in 2004, when he was a senior.

Bryant came from a basketball family, and the sport was often played at family gatherings. His father John made all-state when he played at West Aurora High School in the mid-1970s and is in the West Aurora sports hall of fame, as is Jay Bryant, Kevin's uncle.

Bryant was remembered by his coaches and friends as a fierce competitor who was also a gentleman and a loyal friend and teammate.

Ryan Rendleman

Ryan Rendleman, a 2004 graduate of Batavia High School, died in a car crash April 29, a week before he was scheduled to graduate from Southern Illinois University.

Rendleman was driving to an assignment for the Daily Egyptian student newspaper when a semitrailer truck hit his car, pushing it into two other trucks. Rendleman was stopped in a construction zone when his car was struck.

Rendleman started working for the Daily Egyptian as a reporter but found his calling as a photographer. He was scheduled to begin a summer internship at the Southern Illinoisian newspaper. Rendleman was a leader in the junior high program of Vine Community Church in Carbondale.

Mark McCormick

St. Charles resident Mark McCormick died July 19 of complications from a brain injury he had sustained in 1987 at age 23.

McCormick had lived at Pine View Health Care center where he received care and physical therapy. McCormick was in a restaurant when he blacked out and fell on his head. A cerebral hemorrhage caused brain damage.

For the last 16 years, the Mark McCormick Foundation sponsored a run every year and the proceeds went to his care. McCormick was a runner before the accident.

His family visited him daily and said that he never gave up trying to learn to walk again.

Marisol Reyes

Marisol Reyes died May 21 at age 12 after she collapsed during a trip to Funway Roller Rink in Batavia with her classmates from Thompson Middle School in St. Charles.

According to the Kane County coroner's office, her death was caused by a medical condition for which she was receiving treatment.

Marisol played the violin in the class orchestra and sang in the choir. She was remembered by school officials as having a positive attitude and a compassionate personality.

Daniel J. Jackson

Soon after realizing his dream of coaching football at Marmion Academy, Daniel J. Jackson of St. Charles died in a crash Oct. 7 when the car he was driving struck two trees in Campton Hills. He was 25.

Jackson was in his first year of coaching football at his alma mater, Marmion Academy in Aurora. A 2001 Marmion graduate, he had played tight end on the football team.

He also played football at downstate Quincy University, but family members said he always aspired to returning to Marmion as a coach.

Although he was in only his first year of coaching, he had already shown promise as a motivator to the players he worked with, according to school officials.

Blake Denton and Jeff Malewig

The Kaneland community is still reeling from the Dec. 11 deaths of Blake Denton and Jeff Malewig, both 17. They were killed in a one-vehicle crash around 9 a. m. when the car in which they were traveling hit a tree on Harter Road in Kaneville Township. They were seniors at Kaneland High School and were scheduled to begin classes at 9:24 a.m. Both were wearing seat belts. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

About 200 teens attended a prayer vigil the evening of the crash at the Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove, where they talked about the boys and prayed for the families.

Both boys were well-liked by their classmates. Denton was remembered as a great guy and a great friend. He was a student assistant in physics class and had planned to study accounting in college.

Malewig was a second baseman for the Kaneland varsity baseball team. He had scored a 32 on his ACT test and was planning on going to college, where he hoped to play baseball. His mother, Laura Malewig, said he was committed to his faith and was a comic who made everyone laugh.