On October 21st, 2019 at 8:30p.m., another young life was taken from us. 15 year old Estevan Nuno had passed away in Crane Park. Estevan attended Turlock High as a sophomore. I knew Estevan and when I heard the news, I was speechless. This has been the third death of a high school student in Turlock in the last two months. May they all rest easy.

Estevan’s mother had spoken to Modesto Bee about the loss of her son.

“When I found my own son unconscious, it was an absolute nightmare. I never thought that this would happen.”

Turlock Police said that Estevan was drinking alcohol with his friends in the park, but he had fallen off the bench, thrown-up and then proceed to choke on said throw-up. He had stopped breathing after that and was pronounced dead.

All my condolences go the Nuno family. I knew their son and he was one of the most kind-hearted people the world ever needed. I will always miss the smile he had on his face; one of the biggest and brightest smiles I had ever seen.

Brooklyn Katzenmeyer who is a sophomore at Turlock High shared how she was feeling with the death of her close friend.

“My first impression of Estevan was that he was really sweet and his smile was adorable.  Estevan to me was one of my very close friends and I loved him so much.  When I found out Estevan had passed, I was in denial, I didn’t believe and to be honest, I thought it was some messed up joke. I was heartbroken.”

Katzenmeyer also said, “The one thing I will always remember about Estevan is the day he walked to my house, by the college from Turlock High just because I was upset and we just sat outside and I let him try and do my hair because he was so determined to get my hair into a ponytail.”

I’m very proud of Brooklyn for speaking out about her friend’s passing. It’s a hard thing to lose one of your very close friends in high school. My thoughts go out to Brooklyn and all of those mourning the loss of their friend. My advice for you is always keep him close to heart. He loves you.

Another girl, Alexis Carvlho, at Turlock High also knew Estevan, possibly a little better than Brooklyn and me.

“My first impression of him was that he was that he looked extremely nice, sweet and caring. I was definitely right.  Estevan and I were best friends and he was the best person to be friends with because of his personality alone.  Something that I’ll always remember about him is no matter what type of situation it was, he always had a smile on his face that would brighten everyone’s day.”

Carvlho included, “My favorite memory with him would have to be the one time we were playing basketball and he threw the ball at the playground because somebody was coming for him, but every memory I shared with him was great.”

Losing a friend in high school is never easy and it doesn’t get easier. Like I have said, keep him close to heart, he loved you very much.

Once again, I would like to just come out and say rest easy to all the people we’ve lost in the past two months. We all love you and you’ll stay in our hearts forever.