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Boy's life inspires memorial

Guardian Angels Catholic School breaks ground for the Kevin LaPlante Chapel.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published September 24, 2005

CLEARWATER - Visitors to Guardian Angels Catholic School on Evans Road might notice a locker with no lock.

It's locker number 205 and in it are bits and pieces of Kevin LaPlante's short life.

His class schedule remains taped to the door, right where he left it.

A hand-drawn cartoon face of a character called Clem the Calzone is affixed near the top, where a string of Mardi Gras beads hangs from a hook.

On the locker door is a plaque that reads "Kevin LaPlante 2004." That is the year he would have graduated from eighth grade.

But Kevin never made it. The school retired his locker and turned it into a shrine after the boy died of leukemia at 12 in August 2002.

School officials decided that wasn't enough. Now they are building a chapel in Kevin's honor on the school grounds.

Officials broke ground for the $500,000 Kevin LaPlante Chapel on Wednesday, on what would have been the boy's 16th birthday.

The main donors are parents of past and current students as well as others in the community. The donors include Kevin's parents, Chad and Hilda Horne; Dave and Leslie Baccari; Jack and Anne Sheehan; Daryl and Kirsten Carter; and the Rev. Joseph Pellegrino, the school's pastor, and his brother, Michael Pellegrino.

Construction on the 1,700-square-foot sanctuary starts Nov. 1; the school hopes it will be finished by May 2006.

The 470-student school, which incorporates children from four local parishes, has no place of worship on the grounds.

Designed by Todd J. Willsie of Hoffman Architects in Tarpon Springs, the little church will feature 100 moveable seats, a handmade altar with a circular ash base with burgundy accents, hand-carved stations of the cross and a holy water font with a rounded ash wood base and onyx top.

The chapel will have soft interior colors and stained glass windows depicting several angels, as well as a representation of Kevin himself.

"We want it to be the central focal point of our campus," said principal Cindy Malinski.

Kevin was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in September 2000. He spoke publicly about his struggle with the disease, inspiring more than 1,000 people in the community to register as bone marrow donors.

Although he only attended Guardian Angels for a year and a half, and then only when his health permitted it, "he had a huge impact," Malinski said.

"He was just a delight," she said. "He taught us all how precious life is."

School officials described Kevin as a little comedian who loved to make people laugh. The comic Robin Williams, whom he once had a chance to meet, was his hero.

According to his stepfather, Chad Horne, Kevin was also a very talented artist.

"He created Clem the Calzone," he said of the youngster's cartoon character. "He had a great wit, and it showed in his cartoons."

Horne said even the day before he died, Kevin was making his family laugh by telling jokes and little stories. He said that "helped us get through" his son's death.

He said he and his wife "still get a little emotional" when they think about the chapel.

"We're humbled by the school's desire to name it after him," said Horne.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 24, 2005, 01:00:22]