By Tanner Kent

WASECA — Amid an overflowing memorial of flowers, pictures and heart-wrenching handwritten missives about the loss of their friend, a box of tissue sat atop Jacob Gleason’s locker.

It was a silent symbol of the shared sadness in Waseca on Monday as friends, family and community supporters attended the funeral for the 14-year-old freshman who was killed in a rollover crash last week.

The funeral was held in the afternoon at the Waseca High School gymnasium. Hundreds packed the available seats — including much of the student body, which was released at noon so students could attend the funeral with their families.

Jeanne Swanson, principal of Waseca High School, said the outpouring of support has buoyed spirits at the school, where students and staff were still in shock over last week’s accident.

“We’ve got an amazing community,” she said. “Everybody has been so supportive.”

In the days after Wednesday’s accident, several neighboring school districts offered their counselors while the Waseca federal prison and the city’s ministerial association also offered assistance.

On the night of the accident, hundreds gathered for a prayer service at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to pray for Gleason and 17-year-old Conway J. Shakal, who was driving the car when he and his friend collided with 49-year-old LeRoy Boettcher near the intersection of Waseca County roads 22 and 73.

Shakal was airlifted to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester in serious condition and is still recovering. Boettcher was taken to Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

And even though tragedy struck during the middle of the school’s homecoming week, students have not forgotten their friend and classmate.

For the ninth-grade football team’s homecoming game (which was played at his parents’ request) players painted Gleason’s jersey number — 32 — on the field. And during the school’s homecoming coronation Thursday night, students again remembered the classmates who were not there.

At his locker memorial, pictures showed Gleason as he was in life: smiling, hugging friends and enjoying sports and outdoor activities. One picture showed Gleason working as an official for wrestling, a sport in which he mentored youth and earned a pair of varsity letters as a seventh- and eighth-grader.

Many of the notes near his locker invoked the phrase “Band of Brothers” — a reference to this year’s team motto for the ninth-grade football team. Another letter promised that “True heroes never die in our hearts.”

And still another summarized the message of the memorial: “I just can’t believe you’re gone forever.”