NEAH BAY – The funeral services for Ronnie Scroggins, 15, who died when a car carrying seven young people crashed into the Elwha River Sunday, have been set for 1 p.m. Friday at the Neah Bay High School Gym.
Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at Harper-Ridgeview Funeral Chapel in Port Angeles, 105 W. Fourth St.
The Rev. Andrew Winck will officiate over the service, and burial will be at Neah Bay Cemetery.
An open house potluck dinner will be in the high school gym, 3560 Deer St., after the burial.
Scroggins, who was enrolled member of the Makah tribe, was in Port Angeles visiting his biological mother for the weekend, his adoptive mother, Marla Tolliver, said in Neah Bay on Monday.
A car carrying seven teenagers drove into the Elwha River at about 3 a.m. Sunday.
Five managed to escape the car as it moved in the currents about 100 yards downriver toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation.
The driver, Sela Kalama, 19, stands charged with involuntary manslaughter in federal court.
The other four survivors have not been identified.
Scroggins, a freshman at Neah Bay High School, and Vanna Francis, a senior at Port Angeles High School and an enrolled member of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, died in the wreck.
Services for Francis, 17, are pending.
Neah Bay School – which includes the middle school, high school and elementary school – had counselors on hand Monday and Tuesday for students to talk with.
Students also were given the opportunity to make artwork or send cards to the family to honor Scroggins.
“We also have a memory wall for them to post on,” Principal Ann Renker said.
Scroggins played basketball and was an honors student, said his mother.
“He lived for basketball,” she said.
Scroggins was born Jan. 30 1992 in Seattle.
He is survived by parents, Marla Tolliver and his stepfather, Vern Tolliver, of Neah Bay, Larry Scroggins II and his stepmother, Tawnia Scroggins, of Forks and his biological mother, Carmen DiVincenzo, and her husband, Robert, of Port Angeles.
He is also survived by grandparents Jan LaChester, of Neah Bay, John and Elaine Richardson, of Neah Bay, Terry and Irene Burdick, of Rockfalls, Ill., and Candy Torneby, of Forks; his brothers, Darryl Svec, Brian Svec and Anthony DiVincenzo, all of Port Angeles, Joshua Torneby, of Forks, and Jon Tolliver, of Neah Bay; his sisters, Emma Torneby, of Forks, and Amy Tolliver, of Neah Bay; as well as numerous cousins nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his grandfather Batch LaChester.
