**Working memorial. Actual burial site being researched and will be updated as soon as I am able to determine the details**
For his 17th birthday, Keegan Aiazzi's father, Jason, signed the paperwork for his son to get a tattoo on his right arm.
When Keegan held his arm in one direction, the tattoo read "Family." When he flipped it over, it read, "Forever."
"Family was the most important thing for him and he would have done anything for any of his family. Stephen was family to him and to us," said Aiazzi.
On Saturday Keegan and his best friend Stephen Anderson, 16, were on the second day of their first scuba diving trip to Monterey Bay when something went horribly wrong.
After the boys failed to surface with their group, rescuers were called. Some two hours later, divers discovered the boys' bodies near one another on the ocean floor, Monterey County Sheriff's Detective Kevin Gardepie said. Rescue efforts were in vain. The best friends, both Carson High School juniors, were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Stephen's father, Chris Anderson, said Tuesday that the last thing he'd told the two before they boarded a charter boat to go diving with classmates was, "Now you guys stick together." In the end, he noted, they did as they were told.
"They were dive buddies and they were best friends," said Jason Aiazzi. "The odd thing is they had parking spots right next to each other at school and they both had the same middle name — James."
They also both played on the Carson High football team together and first met as little boys in Pop Warner football. But their friendship blossomed in high school.
The loss has hit the student body hard. The boys' parking spots are now a memorial to them. Classmates climbed C Hill to mark it with a "K" and an "S."
Funeral services were held for Stephen at the Church of Latter-day Saints on Saliman Road next to the high school.
For his 17th birthday, Keegan Aiazzi's father, Jason, signed the paperwork for his son to get a tattoo on his right arm.
When Keegan held his arm in one direction, the tattoo read "Family." When he flipped it over, it read, "Forever."
"Family was the most important thing for him and he would have done anything for any of his family. Stephen was family to him and to us," said Aiazzi.
On Saturday Keegan and his best friend Stephen Anderson, 16, were on the second day of their first scuba diving trip to Monterey Bay when something went horribly wrong.
After the boys failed to surface with their group, rescuers were called. Some two hours later, divers discovered the boys' bodies near one another on the ocean floor, Monterey County Sheriff's Detective Kevin Gardepie said. Rescue efforts were in vain. The best friends, both Carson High School juniors, were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Stephen's father, Chris Anderson, said Tuesday that the last thing he'd told the two before they boarded a charter boat to go diving with classmates was, "Now you guys stick together." In the end, he noted, they did as they were told.
"They were dive buddies and they were best friends," said Jason Aiazzi. "The odd thing is they had parking spots right next to each other at school and they both had the same middle name — James."
They also both played on the Carson High football team together and first met as little boys in Pop Warner football. But their friendship blossomed in high school.
The loss has hit the student body hard. The boys' parking spots are now a memorial to them. Classmates climbed C Hill to mark it with a "K" and an "S."
Funeral services were held for Stephen at the Church of Latter-day Saints on Saliman Road next to the high school.
**Working memorial. Actual burial site being researched and will be updated as soon as I am able to determine the details**
For his 17th birthday, Keegan Aiazzi's father, Jason, signed the paperwork for his son to get a tattoo on his right arm.
When Keegan held his arm in one direction, the tattoo read "Family." When he flipped it over, it read, "Forever."
"Family was the most important thing for him and he would have done anything for any of his family. Stephen was family to him and to us," said Aiazzi.
On Saturday Keegan and his best friend Stephen Anderson, 16, were on the second day of their first scuba diving trip to Monterey Bay when something went horribly wrong.
After the boys failed to surface with their group, rescuers were called. Some two hours later, divers discovered the boys' bodies near one another on the ocean floor, Monterey County Sheriff's Detective Kevin Gardepie said. Rescue efforts were in vain. The best friends, both Carson High School juniors, were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Stephen's father, Chris Anderson, said Tuesday that the last thing he'd told the two before they boarded a charter boat to go diving with classmates was, "Now you guys stick together." In the end, he noted, they did as they were told.
"They were dive buddies and they were best friends," said Jason Aiazzi. "The odd thing is they had parking spots right next to each other at school and they both had the same middle name — James."
They also both played on the Carson High football team together and first met as little boys in Pop Warner football. But their friendship blossomed in high school.
The loss has hit the student body hard. The boys' parking spots are now a memorial to them. Classmates climbed C Hill to mark it with a "K" and an "S."
Funeral services were held for Stephen at the Church of Latter-day Saints on Saliman Road next to the high school.
For his 17th birthday, Keegan Aiazzi's father, Jason, signed the paperwork for his son to get a tattoo on his right arm.
When Keegan held his arm in one direction, the tattoo read "Family." When he flipped it over, it read, "Forever."
"Family was the most important thing for him and he would have done anything for any of his family. Stephen was family to him and to us," said Aiazzi.
On Saturday Keegan and his best friend Stephen Anderson, 16, were on the second day of their first scuba diving trip to Monterey Bay when something went horribly wrong.
After the boys failed to surface with their group, rescuers were called. Some two hours later, divers discovered the boys' bodies near one another on the ocean floor, Monterey County Sheriff's Detective Kevin Gardepie said. Rescue efforts were in vain. The best friends, both Carson High School juniors, were pronounced dead at the hospital.
Stephen's father, Chris Anderson, said Tuesday that the last thing he'd told the two before they boarded a charter boat to go diving with classmates was, "Now you guys stick together." In the end, he noted, they did as they were told.
"They were dive buddies and they were best friends," said Jason Aiazzi. "The odd thing is they had parking spots right next to each other at school and they both had the same middle name — James."
They also both played on the Carson High football team together and first met as little boys in Pop Warner football. But their friendship blossomed in high school.
The loss has hit the student body hard. The boys' parking spots are now a memorial to them. Classmates climbed C Hill to mark it with a "K" and an "S."
Funeral services were held for Stephen at the Church of Latter-day Saints on Saliman Road next to the high school.
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
