May 5, 1994 – April 9, 2011

Stephen James Anderson, 16, passed away
Saturday, April 9, 2011, in Monterey, Calif.
Stephen was born May 5,1994, in Reno to Chris
and Thea Anderson of Carson City.

Stephen was a junior at Carson High School,
where he was an energetic and happy student
looking forward to his senior varsity football
season and a three-peat.

He attended pre-school and elementary school at
Bethlehem Lutheran School and Fritsch Elementary
School. He graduated from Carson Middle School
and was currently attending Carson High School.

Stephen loved his family, especially his older
sister Sara, a freshman at the University of Utah
and he also greatly loved his "Mama," Thea.

He adored his grandparents, Jim and Jan Anderson,
and Wes and Aileen Schlager, and they loved him
back even more.

Stephen's life dreams were to fly helicopters, be
a firefighter, and have a really fast street bike.

Stephen is survived by his father and mother, Chris
and Thea Anderson of Carson City; older sister Sara

Anderson (Carson City); grandparents Jim and Jan
Anderson (Carson City); aunt and uncle Kelly and
Scott Anderson (Carson City); aunt and uncle Susan
and Mark Anderson (Bloomington, Ind.); cousins Andie
and Adam Anderson (Carson City), Ben, Elizabeth, Josh
and Lauren Anderson (Bloomington); and numerous
other aunts, uncles, and cousins. Stephen was preceded
in death by his grandparents Wes and Aileen Schlager;
uncles Joe and Pat Schlager; cousins Megan Anderson
and Matthew Schlager; and great-grandmother Afton
Gardner. He was joined in death with his best friend
and dive buddy, Keegan Aiazzi.



There will be a short service at 10 a.m. Saturday,
April 16, 2011, at The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints Chapel on Saliman, next to Carson
High School. Arrangements are being made by Fitzhenry's

Funeral Home. Stephen will be buried at a later date
in Austin, Nev.
********************************

Students and staff at Carson High School were in
mourning and shock Monday after two juniors --
Stephen Anderson, 16, and Keegan Aiazzi, 17 --
died in a scuba diving accident over the weekend in
Monterey Bay, Calif.Flowers and sports memorabilia
of the two members of the Carson High football team,
plus goodbye notes from students, were laid out in the
parking lot of the school where the two had parked
their cars. "This school is devastated," said Austin
Pacheco, who was a teammate of both students on
the Carson High football team. "We've lost two really
good kids. We are going to miss them dearly."

A cloud of grief hung over the school Monday after
the two died during a diving trip that was not
sponsored by the school but was organized by a
Monterey scuba diving business. The Assembly at
the Nevada Legislature in Carson City adjourned
early Monday, in honor of Anderson and Aiazzi.
"It is so surreal that this has happened," Pacheco
said. "I can't imagine what their families are going
through."



The trip

The two boys went to Monterey Bay with the parents
of Anderson and also took part in an oceanography
field trip sponsored by Carson High on Friday. They
remained in California to go scuba diving over the
weekend, said Richard Stokes, superintendent of the
Carson City School District.

A Carson High teacher, Adrienne Garbiel, who went
on the field trip and is an avid scuba diver, also
took part in the dive where the two boys drowned,
Stokes said.

Garbiel was not the official individual who put
together this trip, Stokes said. "She was asked
by this scuba business to stay down there and go
on the dive with these kids," Stokes said.

"She again is a very caring individual who loves
her students," Stokes said. "This is really a tragedy
that will affect her and affect all of us to a
significant degree.

"She cares deeply for her students and wanted to
help them learn about something that she really
loves," Stokes said. "The kids were interested and

enthusiastic and sign up to take part in this dive.
It was set up and organized in a way that anyone who
was interested and has the proper scuba diving certification

could take part in."



Following successful dives Friday evening and
Saturday morning, both Anderson and Aiazzi did
not surface with the rest of the group after a
second dive Saturday, according a news release
from the Carson City School District.Diving instructors

accompanying the group began
searching for the divers immediately while emergency
calls were made to the local fire department rescue
squad and the Coast Guard, according to the school
district.The bodies of the two students were located

on the sea floor following a search of about 2 ½ hours.
Both air tanks of the divers were empty, according
to the school district.