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Tears flow as friends mourn
By ROBERT KING © St. Petersburg Times, published January 23, 2001 SPRING HILL -- Stewart Abramowicz was known as someone who flirted with the girls to no end, with many of them seeming to bask in the glow of his attention. The guys he hung out with called him a "ladies man." And they said it with admiration.
To several who knew the seventh-grader from Fox Chapel Middle School or in his neighborhood around Pioneer Park on middle Pinehurst Drive -- he was a daredevil on the scooter. Still, they said he was not such a daredevil that he would risk getting killed. Yet there they were Monday, the kids who knew and liked Stewart, mourning the 12-year-old's death from the injuries he suffered after being hit by a car while riding his scooter on Pinehurst. Stewart's twin brother, Anthony, was struck too, but he survived. Before school, and throughout the day, kids taped notes and posters to the flagpole in front of the school. One read, "We love you and miss you 4ever." Another said, "I didn't know you . . . but I'm very sure you didn't diserve (sic) this . . ." Some used roses -- pink, yellow and red -- as paperweights for the messages they left on the ground. The school's marquee -- normally announcing things such as school dances -- read simply: "We love you Stewart." Inside the building, tears flowed freely. Principal David Schoelles and his assistants went from room to room during first period to share the news with kids who hadn't heard and to offer help. The library was converted for the day into a room where students could talk to counselors, many brought from other schools, and volunteer chaplains. Some kids went home early. One upset child tried to leave but was returned. A couple of kids injured themselves in anger, including a boy who punched a flag pole. But the injuries were minor. Schoelles, who fielded questions for the school, said: "To accept someone so young dying is hard to come to grips with." Schoelles collected an honor roll certificate for Stewart's mother. The boy was due to receive it Wednesday morning at a public ceremony. "He was really proud of his accomplishment," Schoelles said. After school, kids gathered near the scene of the accident to place flowers, cards, teddy bears and other mementos around a white wooden cross staked up by the road. The cross had been discolored by melted candle wax from a previous vigil and by many notes and signatures written with black marker. Family members have declined interviews. But they left their love in several messages, including one that reads, "Love, Mom." The crowd of kids around the cross served as testimony to the growing prevalence of children in what was once solely a retirement area. Most walked to the site, some dribbling basketballs. Several rode bikes and a few, even on this sad Monday, rode scooters down the same busy street that claimed Stewart Abramowicz. Justin Rashley, Steven Dumaine, Robby Wentworth, John Asbury, Kelvin Calo and Joe Anderson live in the neighborhood and were friends with the Abramowicz boys. Some have even ridden scooters with the twins. All of them described Stewart as a daredevil: He would try spins and leaps on his scooter. But he would never recklessly test the traffic. "He would never get hurt," Dumaine said. "But he was crazy." Rashley, who rode his scooter up Pinehurst on Monday afternoon, said sidewalks along the road aren't as smooth as the street pavement. The kids also use Pinehurst, Talbot Street and the parking lot of Pioneer Park as a circular loop. None of the youngsters seemed surprised the Abramowicz boys were on the edge of the road near the crest of a hill that severely limits the line of sight for drivers. Rashley said they had probably been using the hill to build momentum -- and speed -- on their scooters. Even though the twins were hurt while riding -- at dusk -- on the crest of a hill on a busy street, the neighborhood boys do not think they were at fault. Geraldine Berotti, 74, said she didn't see the boys coming toward her until it was too late. No charges have been filed in the case. Robert Penney, an adult who lives in the neighborhood, says kids are always using the street and should be stopped. But he says other factors are at work, too. The street needs a lower speed limit for cars and maybe a caution light, he said. Mostly, Penney thinks the problem is older drivers who have no business on the road. Services for Stewart AbramowiczTonight: Visitation 5-7 p.m. at Merritt Funeral Home, 4095 Mariner Blvd. Wednesday: Visitation at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church on Mariner Blvd., 2:30-3:30 p.m. The funeral is set for 3:30 p.m. A "Stewart Abramowicz" Fund has been established at SunTrust Bank to assist the family with medical and funeral expenses.
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