The following story appeared in the June 24 Idaho Catholic Register.
Bishop Kelly students lay down their bikes around a memorial for their classmates Henry Warner and Braden Caldwell who were avid bikers. (Courtesy photo/Bishop Kelly High School))
A memorial service at Bishop Kelly High School for two beloved students began with the Bishop Kelly mountain biking team riding their bikes into the school’s rosary garden and then laying their bikes down around two make-shift memorials to Braden Caldwell
and Henry Warner.
It was the perfect tribute to Braden and Henry, both avid outdoorsmen and both members of the school’s mountain biking team. They died in a car accident on
Sunday, June 12. Both 16, they had just completed their sophomore years at Bishop Kelly High School. An-other student, Alex Johnson, was seriously injured in the accident, but will recover.
A memorial Mass was celebrated Tuesday night, June 14, at Holy Apostles Parish in Meridian, followed the next day by a prayer service for grieving students at Bishop Kelly. The funeral Mass for Braden, who is the son of BK Principal Mike Caldwell, was Friday, June 17, and for Henry on Tuesday, June 21. Both Masses were at Holy Apostles.
The deaths of the students, coming just after the close of the school year, rocked the tight-knit Bishop Kelly family.
“Four times in the last 30 years, I have worked in a school where students have died tragically,” said Father Gregory Vance, chaplain at BK. “It always challenges the very heart of our faith, both individually as well as communally. So, my prayer has been with the Caldwell and Warner families. … I know that grief and mourning for a loss so senseless and sudden never really goes away.”
Braden attended St. Mark’s Catholic School through fifth grade, then St. Ignatius through eighth grade before entering BK. He was “incredibly active,” according to his obituary, enjoying fishing, hunting, mountain biking, skiing and photography. He was the JV tennis team captain during both his freshman and sophomore years.
“The many wonderful stories, fond memories, laughs and smiles provided by Braden will live on in our hearts and minds forever and his impact and influence on others will survive for an eternity,” his family wrote. “As an organ donor, Braden also lives on through this gift of life to others in need of medical support.”
Braden’s parents are Mike and Amy and his sisters are Ashton and Saige. His family is asking that memorial donations be made to the Bishop Kelly Scholarship Fund at bishopkellyfoundation.org, and including “Braden Caldwell Memorial Scholarship,” in the comments. Donations can also be mailed to the Foundation at 7009 Franklin Road, Boise, ID, 83709.
Henry Warner “possessed an inherent and likeable energy which naturally drew others to him,” the family tribute said. His top four priorities were skiing, climbing (he was a member of the Boise Climbing Team), mountain biking and road biking. “His parents remained hopeful that school was the fifth priority. However, Henry brought the same discipline to this studies as he did in play,” the family tribute read.
His parents are Robin and Kevin and his sister is Ellen. The family asks that memorials be made to Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area at bogusbasin.org or to the Ridge to Rivers Trail System at ridgetorivers.org.
Father Vance said premature death always raises the question of why.
“To our BK community, I can’t offer platitudes and easy answers to such deep and painful questions that are being addressed not to me, but to God,” Father Vance said. “My faith tells me that this is the most raw and honest prayer that anyone can experience. It is the prayer of the Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross, the painful cry of the Pieta, and the sorrow in the Trinity itself at the death of the Second Person. My faith also tells me that Easter is our goal and our ultimate end, even in the unthinkable tragedy of Good Friday. My faith tells me that God understands loss, and weeps with us. My faith tells me that God is love, and, therefore, love is both our origin and our destiny.”
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