OKAWVILLE -- Nicholas Scott Bledsoe, 19, departed this life at 10:05 p.m. Thursday, March 3, 2011, in the emergency room of Washington County Hospital in Nashville from injuries sustained in a farming accident.
Nicholas was born Nov. 28, 1991, in St. Louis, the son of Donald and Vickey (Ruffin) Bledsoe.
Nick was a senior at Okawville High School, where he served as senior class president. Nick was a member of the FFA, golf team, basketball team, and the Clay Crushers Trap Shooting Team. He also served as a Sweetheart candidate escort, a member of the Student Leadership Team, and a member of the Principal's Advisory Board. Nick was second runner-up of the King Kahuna his junior year and was recently voted Homecoming King. Nick loved the Okawville Rockets and was proud of his school. He never met a stranger and was always willing to help those in need.
Nick enjoyed four-wheeling. He loved to take friends down to Southern Illinois to go four-wheeling on the 50 wooded acres that his family owned. He also loved boating, camping, telling jokes and working at Elm Farms. He liked working on his truck and car and would only drive a Chevy. He was a big NASCAR fan and followed Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nick enjoyed spending time with friends and family and loved being a big brother to his sister, Hanna.
Left to mourn his passing are his parents, Donald and Vickey Bledsoe of Okawville; a sister, Hanna Bledsoe at home; maternal grandmother, Patsy Ruffin of East Cape Girardeau; three uncles, Tim Bledsoe of Olive Branch, Chris Bledsoe and wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Clara, of Cape Girardeau, and Stan Harris and wife, Bonnie, and their daughter, Dawn, of Columbia; an aunt, Cathy Gottman of Highland and her daughters, Jamie Thierauf, Carrie Burns and Shari Watson, all of St. Louis; several great-uncles and great-aunts, as well as many friends.
He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Lloyd and Clara Mae Bledsoe; and his maternal grandfather, Leon Ruffin.
Services will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2011, in Luechtefeld Gymnasium at the Okawville Junior/Senior High School, with Pastor Jeffrey Schwab officiating. Interment will be in IOOF Cemetery in Okawville.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2011, at Okawville Junior/Senior High School's Luechtefeld Gymnasium.
Should friends desire, memorials may be made to a college fund that will be established for Nick's sister, Hanna.
Online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.campagnafuneralhomes.com.
Campagna Funeral Home of Okawville is in charge of arrangements.
A tiny Southern Illinois school's senior class president and another popular classmate were electrocuted when they accidentally moved an aluminum irrigation pipe into an overhead power line while trying to free a raccoon inside the tube, a coroner said Friday.
Thursday night's deaths of student officer Nick Bledsoe, 19, and Justin Eldridge, 18, by Friday had numbed students and staffers at Okawville Junior-Senior High School, where counselors scrambled to help those grieving the tragedy described by the 550-student school system's chief as "a freak thing I can't even begin to describe."
"Both students were what I consider the embodiment of the spirit and what this small community stands for - they are hard-working, fun-loving, genuine kids," Superintendent Scott Fuhrhop added by telephone from Okawville, a Washington County village of just 1,400 people about 40 miles southeast of St. Louis. In a senior class of just roughly four dozen students, "they were two of the most genuine people you'd ever want to meet."
Mark Styninger, the county's coroner, said Bledsoe and Eldridge were working on a farm Thursday night - by Fuhrhop's account, spreading manure - when they spotted a raccoon slink into the 30-foot irrigation pipe. The two teens picked up the pipe to try to get the animal out of it when the pipe touched the power line.
Nicholas was born Nov. 28, 1991, in St. Louis, the son of Donald and Vickey (Ruffin) Bledsoe.
Nick was a senior at Okawville High School, where he served as senior class president. Nick was a member of the FFA, golf team, basketball team, and the Clay Crushers Trap Shooting Team. He also served as a Sweetheart candidate escort, a member of the Student Leadership Team, and a member of the Principal's Advisory Board. Nick was second runner-up of the King Kahuna his junior year and was recently voted Homecoming King. Nick loved the Okawville Rockets and was proud of his school. He never met a stranger and was always willing to help those in need.
Nick enjoyed four-wheeling. He loved to take friends down to Southern Illinois to go four-wheeling on the 50 wooded acres that his family owned. He also loved boating, camping, telling jokes and working at Elm Farms. He liked working on his truck and car and would only drive a Chevy. He was a big NASCAR fan and followed Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nick enjoyed spending time with friends and family and loved being a big brother to his sister, Hanna.
Left to mourn his passing are his parents, Donald and Vickey Bledsoe of Okawville; a sister, Hanna Bledsoe at home; maternal grandmother, Patsy Ruffin of East Cape Girardeau; three uncles, Tim Bledsoe of Olive Branch, Chris Bledsoe and wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Clara, of Cape Girardeau, and Stan Harris and wife, Bonnie, and their daughter, Dawn, of Columbia; an aunt, Cathy Gottman of Highland and her daughters, Jamie Thierauf, Carrie Burns and Shari Watson, all of St. Louis; several great-uncles and great-aunts, as well as many friends.
He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Lloyd and Clara Mae Bledsoe; and his maternal grandfather, Leon Ruffin.
Services will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2011, in Luechtefeld Gymnasium at the Okawville Junior/Senior High School, with Pastor Jeffrey Schwab officiating. Interment will be in IOOF Cemetery in Okawville.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2011, at Okawville Junior/Senior High School's Luechtefeld Gymnasium.
Should friends desire, memorials may be made to a college fund that will be established for Nick's sister, Hanna.
Online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.campagnafuneralhomes.com.
Campagna Funeral Home of Okawville is in charge of arrangements.
A tiny Southern Illinois school's senior class president and another popular classmate were electrocuted when they accidentally moved an aluminum irrigation pipe into an overhead power line while trying to free a raccoon inside the tube, a coroner said Friday.
Thursday night's deaths of student officer Nick Bledsoe, 19, and Justin Eldridge, 18, by Friday had numbed students and staffers at Okawville Junior-Senior High School, where counselors scrambled to help those grieving the tragedy described by the 550-student school system's chief as "a freak thing I can't even begin to describe."
"Both students were what I consider the embodiment of the spirit and what this small community stands for - they are hard-working, fun-loving, genuine kids," Superintendent Scott Fuhrhop added by telephone from Okawville, a Washington County village of just 1,400 people about 40 miles southeast of St. Louis. In a senior class of just roughly four dozen students, "they were two of the most genuine people you'd ever want to meet."
Mark Styninger, the county's coroner, said Bledsoe and Eldridge were working on a farm Thursday night - by Fuhrhop's account, spreading manure - when they spotted a raccoon slink into the 30-foot irrigation pipe. The two teens picked up the pipe to try to get the animal out of it when the pipe touched the power line.
OKAWVILLE -- Nicholas Scott Bledsoe, 19, departed this life at 10:05 p.m. Thursday, March 3, 2011, in the emergency room of Washington County Hospital in Nashville from injuries sustained in a farming accident.
Nicholas was born Nov. 28, 1991, in St. Louis, the son of Donald and Vickey (Ruffin) Bledsoe.
Nick was a senior at Okawville High School, where he served as senior class president. Nick was a member of the FFA, golf team, basketball team, and the Clay Crushers Trap Shooting Team. He also served as a Sweetheart candidate escort, a member of the Student Leadership Team, and a member of the Principal's Advisory Board. Nick was second runner-up of the King Kahuna his junior year and was recently voted Homecoming King. Nick loved the Okawville Rockets and was proud of his school. He never met a stranger and was always willing to help those in need.
Nick enjoyed four-wheeling. He loved to take friends down to Southern Illinois to go four-wheeling on the 50 wooded acres that his family owned. He also loved boating, camping, telling jokes and working at Elm Farms. He liked working on his truck and car and would only drive a Chevy. He was a big NASCAR fan and followed Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nick enjoyed spending time with friends and family and loved being a big brother to his sister, Hanna.
Left to mourn his passing are his parents, Donald and Vickey Bledsoe of Okawville; a sister, Hanna Bledsoe at home; maternal grandmother, Patsy Ruffin of East Cape Girardeau; three uncles, Tim Bledsoe of Olive Branch, Chris Bledsoe and wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Clara, of Cape Girardeau, and Stan Harris and wife, Bonnie, and their daughter, Dawn, of Columbia; an aunt, Cathy Gottman of Highland and her daughters, Jamie Thierauf, Carrie Burns and Shari Watson, all of St. Louis; several great-uncles and great-aunts, as well as many friends.
He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Lloyd and Clara Mae Bledsoe; and his maternal grandfather, Leon Ruffin.
Services will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2011, in Luechtefeld Gymnasium at the Okawville Junior/Senior High School, with Pastor Jeffrey Schwab officiating. Interment will be in IOOF Cemetery in Okawville.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2011, at Okawville Junior/Senior High School's Luechtefeld Gymnasium.
Should friends desire, memorials may be made to a college fund that will be established for Nick's sister, Hanna.
Online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.campagnafuneralhomes.com.
Campagna Funeral Home of Okawville is in charge of arrangements.
A tiny Southern Illinois school's senior class president and another popular classmate were electrocuted when they accidentally moved an aluminum irrigation pipe into an overhead power line while trying to free a raccoon inside the tube, a coroner said Friday.
Thursday night's deaths of student officer Nick Bledsoe, 19, and Justin Eldridge, 18, by Friday had numbed students and staffers at Okawville Junior-Senior High School, where counselors scrambled to help those grieving the tragedy described by the 550-student school system's chief as "a freak thing I can't even begin to describe."
"Both students were what I consider the embodiment of the spirit and what this small community stands for - they are hard-working, fun-loving, genuine kids," Superintendent Scott Fuhrhop added by telephone from Okawville, a Washington County village of just 1,400 people about 40 miles southeast of St. Louis. In a senior class of just roughly four dozen students, "they were two of the most genuine people you'd ever want to meet."
Mark Styninger, the county's coroner, said Bledsoe and Eldridge were working on a farm Thursday night - by Fuhrhop's account, spreading manure - when they spotted a raccoon slink into the 30-foot irrigation pipe. The two teens picked up the pipe to try to get the animal out of it when the pipe touched the power line.
Nicholas was born Nov. 28, 1991, in St. Louis, the son of Donald and Vickey (Ruffin) Bledsoe.
Nick was a senior at Okawville High School, where he served as senior class president. Nick was a member of the FFA, golf team, basketball team, and the Clay Crushers Trap Shooting Team. He also served as a Sweetheart candidate escort, a member of the Student Leadership Team, and a member of the Principal's Advisory Board. Nick was second runner-up of the King Kahuna his junior year and was recently voted Homecoming King. Nick loved the Okawville Rockets and was proud of his school. He never met a stranger and was always willing to help those in need.
Nick enjoyed four-wheeling. He loved to take friends down to Southern Illinois to go four-wheeling on the 50 wooded acres that his family owned. He also loved boating, camping, telling jokes and working at Elm Farms. He liked working on his truck and car and would only drive a Chevy. He was a big NASCAR fan and followed Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nick enjoyed spending time with friends and family and loved being a big brother to his sister, Hanna.
Left to mourn his passing are his parents, Donald and Vickey Bledsoe of Okawville; a sister, Hanna Bledsoe at home; maternal grandmother, Patsy Ruffin of East Cape Girardeau; three uncles, Tim Bledsoe of Olive Branch, Chris Bledsoe and wife, Stephanie, and their daughter, Clara, of Cape Girardeau, and Stan Harris and wife, Bonnie, and their daughter, Dawn, of Columbia; an aunt, Cathy Gottman of Highland and her daughters, Jamie Thierauf, Carrie Burns and Shari Watson, all of St. Louis; several great-uncles and great-aunts, as well as many friends.
He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Lloyd and Clara Mae Bledsoe; and his maternal grandfather, Leon Ruffin.
Services will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2011, in Luechtefeld Gymnasium at the Okawville Junior/Senior High School, with Pastor Jeffrey Schwab officiating. Interment will be in IOOF Cemetery in Okawville.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 7, 2011, at Okawville Junior/Senior High School's Luechtefeld Gymnasium.
Should friends desire, memorials may be made to a college fund that will be established for Nick's sister, Hanna.
Online expressions of sympathy may be made at www.campagnafuneralhomes.com.
Campagna Funeral Home of Okawville is in charge of arrangements.
A tiny Southern Illinois school's senior class president and another popular classmate were electrocuted when they accidentally moved an aluminum irrigation pipe into an overhead power line while trying to free a raccoon inside the tube, a coroner said Friday.
Thursday night's deaths of student officer Nick Bledsoe, 19, and Justin Eldridge, 18, by Friday had numbed students and staffers at Okawville Junior-Senior High School, where counselors scrambled to help those grieving the tragedy described by the 550-student school system's chief as "a freak thing I can't even begin to describe."
"Both students were what I consider the embodiment of the spirit and what this small community stands for - they are hard-working, fun-loving, genuine kids," Superintendent Scott Fuhrhop added by telephone from Okawville, a Washington County village of just 1,400 people about 40 miles southeast of St. Louis. In a senior class of just roughly four dozen students, "they were two of the most genuine people you'd ever want to meet."
Mark Styninger, the county's coroner, said Bledsoe and Eldridge were working on a farm Thursday night - by Fuhrhop's account, spreading manure - when they spotted a raccoon slink into the 30-foot irrigation pipe. The two teens picked up the pipe to try to get the animal out of it when the pipe touched the power line.
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