A photo of Andrew Williamson in his junior high basketball uniform and one on a Little League baseball card were tacked to a wooden cross erected at Port Chilkoot beach this week.
Williamson, 14, died in a drowning accident at the beach Saturday. Friends and family members said he was a good-natured and quiet youth who quickly made friends after moving here one year ago.
“We made extra arrangements to get him here early so he wasn’t the new guy at the high school,” said Larry Williamson, Andrew’s father. “Ever since he was born I wanted to bring him back up here because this is the best place in the world. I wanted him to grow up in Haines.”
Andrew Patrick Williamson was born Feb. 28, 1996 in Deland, Fla. to Larry and Chetra Williamson, their only child. The family moved from Florida to Juneau five years ago.
Williamson said his son was a natural athlete who pitched and played second base on Juneau Little League All-Star teams. He was an all-tournament player at Haines junior high basketball games during the past year.
“He was a great player, tremendously fast, and a good listener,” said coach James Sage. “He was going to be a great asset to the Glacier Bears (high school team).”
Andrew’s golden retriever was named Kobi for a fishing trip Williamson and his dad made three years ago near Yakobi Island on Cross Sound, where they limited out on cohos. But it also came to mean Kobe Bryant, Andrew’s favorite pro basketball player.
“If you explained something to him like it was a basketball tournament or the World Series, he’d understand it,” Larry Williamson said.
On Sunday, dozens of Andrew’s school mates came to the Williamson’s house, bringing a signed basketball and a Kobe Bryant jersey. It was fitting, Larry Williamson said, because Andrew typically traveled with a half-dozen classmates. “They were all a gang. They hung out here all the time.”
Friends, including ones who only recently got to know Williamson, left messages on his Facebook page this week. “Happy one-month friendship anniversary, buddy,” wrote Rhawni Lewis. “While I’m celebrating about it, I hope you are in heaven.”
Said classmate Jamie Messerschmidt: “You will be missed by everyone who has met you. You were a great guy and an even better friend.”
Andrew Williamson is survived by his parents, by grandmother Esther Jhingoor of Orange City, Fla., by sisters Vanessa Alfred of Jersey City, N.J. and Karen Hilton, of Deltona, Fla., and by eight aunts and six uncles including Linda Williamson Purcell of Nashville, Tenn., Darshenee Bharrat of New Jersey and Shashe Jhingoor of Charlotte, N.C., by numerous cousins, and by cousin Janis Bolton of Orlando, Fla.
Purcell, Bolton, Bharrat and Shashe Jhingoor were in town this week. A memorial service was to be held 2 p.m. Thursday at the middle school gym.