OC HIGH / STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : A REMEMBRANCE : ‘An All-Around Great Guy’

Fires ravage through seven counties, fighting persists in what was once Yugoslavia, floods overtake farmland in the Midwest: to many, the stabbing of San Clemente High School senior, Steve Woods, is news of the past.

But for others, the attack Oct. 15 left an indelible mark on their lives. Steve, who was a student at San Clemente High, died Tuesday after remaining in a coma since the attack at Calafia Beach County Park. He had been speared through the head with a paint roller rod.

Steve’s friends, family, and peers have been irreversibly affected by the stabbing that left him in a coma and then took his life. They can never erase what has happened.

While Steve lay comatose in the hospital, his friends at school reflected on the way he made them feel, of their fondest memories of him.

Steve’s first good friend when he moved to San Clemente two years ago, and perhaps his best, Andre Soares, recalls the time when they went snowboarding together at Mammoth for Steve’s birthday. When asked how he felt about the stabbing, Soares was at a loss for words. “It’s almost overwhelming,” he said. “There’s too much to say.”

Jennifer Bowen, also a senior at San Clemente, said her fondest memory of Steve is his smile. “I think of the way he smiles at me, and the way he (flirts) with everyone he knows, and how outgoing he is,” she said, her voice shaking as she uttered fragmented sentences about her friend.

Eric Wilke, a senior, remembers how he felt when he first heard about the stabbing: “I was in complete shock that that could happen to anyone I know . . . I had a gnawing feeling in my stomach. (Right after that) I felt hatred.” Not hatred for the people who did it, he said, “but their mentality.”

Another friend, senior Casey Saul, said that Steve “was just an all-around great guy.”

Steve’s friends cite his good attitude, his cheerful personality and his spontaneity as his best attributes. Steve evoked an uncommon loyalty in his friends, a sort of familial feeling.

When asked what he would say to Steve if he could, Soares said, “I’d do anything for Steve. . . . I’ll always be there for you, stand behind you . . .” For many, including Soares, thinking about the incident is very painful. “I wish I could see him right now,” Soares said emotionally.

Now, Steve’s friends are trying to focus on the future.

“(He should wake up) to enjoy life, to party with his friends,” said Soares, clearly bewildered by the occurrences of the past weeks.

Senior Carrie Schlegel, who liked to call Steve Ricky Schroeder, after the “Silver Spoons” star whom he resembled, said it this way: “Steve should wake up so he can get to the top of Bear Mountain this winter and just look at all the powder, and see how beautiful life is.”