We suffer another tragic loss

It is with a broken heart that I'm sharing news of the passing of Justin Savage, B-B-E Class of 2020, who died this past Thursday, October 2. His parents are Darren and Heather Goodall of rural Belgrade. Their family is big, and it is full of love. Top to bottom they are gracious and kind. Unless you personally know them, it is difficult to really know just how good of people they are. Heather is a 1997 graduate of B-B-E high school. Heather's father, Larry Thompson, was a 1977 Belgrade graduate.

Here's the full obituary for Justin: https://www.hafh.org/obituary/Justin-SavageJr. The visitation for Justin is next Friday, October 10 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home in Belgrade.

Instead of doing sports blogging last night, I spent time combing through archive pictures seeking what I could find of Justin, who I remember as an incredibly kindhearted, busy kid who carried that unique mantle of being one of the "middle" children in a big group of siblings. He was a four-sport athlete at B-B-E high school across 7th-12th grade and a dedicated member of the high school yearbook staff. He played football for B-B-E beginning with Youth Tackle in elementary and all the way up through his senior year in the fall of 2019. He also played basketball, and he was in track and field in junior high and then golf throughout his remaining B-B-E years. His senior season of golf was taken away by MSHSL pandemic restrictions.

In one of the final "big" events that took place at B-B-E high school before the pandemic, Justin was one of the 5 senior Sno-Daze King candidates for Sno-Daze week. The Sno-Daze coronation that year was held on February 11, 2020.

Justin's loss will be mourned by not only his family but a long, long list of childhood friends. His oldest sibling is Aly, B-B-E Class of 2018. The youngest in the family is Elaina, B-B-E Class of 2033.

Justin's high school class graduated on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 in the high school parking lot. I'm sure many of us remember that night.

Here's the parade of graduates' cars through Brooten that evening before the graduation ceremony took place back in 2020:


I will always remember how warm, sunny and peaceful that day was. And I goofed! A little...in that parade video, the Jeep that Justin was sitting in the back seat of crosses by at 30 seconds. I re-positioned my tripod and basically missed the Jeep. I panned back to that Jeep as it passed the Brooten Bakery. I remember that they were trying to cruise by and make sure they stayed on schedule. That is why they drove by faster than the spectators wanted them to. I remember pointing out to people that this parade idea was 100 percent brand new. It was dreamed up with a lot of travel estimation in mind, as the trek spanned from Brooten to Elrosa and then down to Belgrade for the graduation ceremony.

Fortunately! In Belgrade, I got a good picture of that Jeep as it passed by the Belgrade Museum. You'll see that picture in the next Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. It is also in a photo gallery that you can find a link to further below.

Here's the school's 100-minute long video stream of the Class of 2020 graduation:


If you fast forward to the 1:23.45 mark in the video, you can hear Mr. Walsh announce Justin's name before he received his B-B-E diploma.

To see the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's photo gallery from the Class of 2020 graduation, click here to the SmugMug gallery: https://shorturl.at/sGvg8. The front batch of pictures in the gallery feature the graduates driving through Brooten that night.

It took a little help digging this up, but I learned that it was the Class of 2020 who was riding on the school bus back in 2012 that got hit by a small Chevrolet automobile while it was stopped at the Highway 29 railroad crossing north of Glenwood. It was in May 2012 when that took place. They were 4th graders. Fortunately, no students or staff were injured.

The Class of 2020 was already hard hit...
This adds to the grief of this class, the Class of 2020, which has already lost 2 members. Class of 2020 graduate Joe Feldman of Brooten died on April 22, 2021 in a truck-car accident in rural Kensington. His loss was profound and devastating, just like the passing 4 1/2 years later of his classmate Justin. This past summer, Class of 2020 graduate Celeste Stephani passed away from cancer on June 20. Celeste was diagnosed in September 2023 with small cell hypercalcemic ovarian carcinoma. Aggressive chemotherapy, surgeries and a stem cell transplant were not enough to overcome the cancer. Celeste was deeply dedicated to the speech and robotics teams. She also played volleyball in junior high.

Most of my sports blogging is shelved for the time being. The varsity volleyball team earned 3rd place yesterday in Alexandria, and the JV volleyball Jaguars took first place.