Teens Hold Own Service For Classmate

More than a hundred students walked out of class Tuesday after noon at Cheney High School to hold their own memorial service for a classmate who will be buried today.

Gathering on the football field, the students remembered senior Paul J. Shelley, 18, who was killed in a Friday night car wreck.

“We had a moment of silence and some of us told stories,” one student said.

Cheney High Principal Jerry Knott said the walkout violated school rules, but he understands the students’ grief.

“If the kids had come to me about having a memorial, this is something that we could have done at lunch so that everybody could be there,” Knott said Tuesday night.

The principal said none of the estimated 100 to 125 students who attended the impromptu memorial were seniors. They were taking final exams at the time.

Knott said the students who left class will be marked either tardy or unexcused, depending on how long they were gone. Most students returned to class after about a half-hour.

Senior class leaders are planning a memorial for Shelley at Friday’s graduation, Knott said.

Family members are holding a memorial service for Shelley at Emmanuel Lutheran Church today at 3:30 p.m.

“It’s so very, very difficult for students right now,” Knott said. “For some, this is the first time in their lives they’ve ever had to deal with death.”

Shelley was westbound on Salnave Road west of Cheney at 10:15 p.m. Friday when he lost control of the car on a curve, according to the Washington State Patrol. His car rolled, then landed upside down.

Two passengers in the car were injured. Joshua M. Dunbar, 16, suffered a broken collarbone; and Andrew Z. Carlin, 19, had neck and back abrasions.

Three other people who were in the car left the scene of the accident, troopers said.

WSP spokesman Chris Powell said there was evidence of alcohol and marijuana in the car.

, DataTimes