Hundreds gather to remember ‘the ultimate teammate’
Photos by Kevin Oleksy
About 900 mourners gathered Tuesday to celebrate the life of Garrett L. Schlichtemeier, 19, freshman of Ogallala. In addition to family and friends, the entire Chadron State College football team attended with coach Bill O’Boyle. The team, seen upper left, wore black T-shirts printed with Schlichtemeier’s jersey number as a memorial to their deceased teammate.
About 900 people gathered in the Ogallala High School auditorium Tuesday to celebrate the life of Garrett L. Schlichtemeier and say their final goodbyes.
The main message was delivered by Rev. James Miller, who offered hope and consolation to the mourners.
“Resist the temptation to speculate. The answers are buried in the mind of God, a place we have no access to,” Miller said in reference to the tragic circumstances surrounding the student’s death.
Miller said Schlichtemeier’s demeanor and intelligence was “not quite what you’d expect from a jock.”
Schlichtemeier was in the top five percent of his high school class, maintained a 4.0 GPA in his first semester at CSC, and kept a blog of earnest reactions about books he read for class.
Schlichtemeier also designated himself as an organ donor, a choice made by less than a quarter of a million people in the entire U.S., according to the Heath Services and Resources Administration.
Laramie Schlichtemeier gives a eulogy for her brother at the funeral ceremony Tuesday.
However, because of Schlichtemeier’s donation, his organs were used to save the lives of seven people, including a five-year-old boy in need of a kidney.
Roger Hughes, uncle to the deceased, also gave an address that was peppered with both sincere and wry remarks. According to Hughes, Schlichtemeier hoped to go into international law, because he “liked the challenge of convincing others that he was right.”
Hughes also brought a sense of peace to the proceedings, when he said hope could be found in recapturing some of the joy felt during “Slick’s” greatest achievements, like his high school graduation in spring 2009.
Hughes said Schlichtemeier’s love of sports began at a young age and despite being very competitive, he was a superlative teammate.
“A lot of coaches might look at his behavior as a football player as being a ball hog, but “G-man” was actually a life hog. He knew what was important in life and extracted it the most,” Hughes said.
Hughes also said Schlichtemeier’s approach to life and sports was to “focus on the ‘whos’ and let the ‘whats’ take care of themselves.”
In closing, Hughes said “Garrett gave each and every one here a piece of his heart and still had enough left over to save the life of a 20-year-old man. That’s how big his heart was, why he was special, and the ultimate teammate.”
CSC teammates and Head Football Coach Bill O’Boyle gather around Garrett L. Schlichtemeier’s casket at his interment Tuesday in Ogallala. Schlichtemeier died from a head injury suffered in a car wreck over spring break in Auburn, Ala.