A surfboard and snowboard lean against the wall next to posters of celebrity surfers riding immaculate waves. Her son Seth loved surfing, often going to the Montara jetty just on the other side of the highway.
Sanders apologizes for the clutter. Orphan shoes are still scattered on the floor even after she cleaned her son’s dirty room one more time.
  
(Use arrows above to view more photos) |
Near the book lay wax impressions of her son’s hands taken last October at the Pumpkin Festival. Every year the family paid for a wax impression to chart the growth of their only son, from infant to toddler to child to teenager.
Seth Adam Koller was 16 years old when his life ended unexpectedly early Saturday morning, the result of a sudden highway accident near Frenchmans Creek.
“Every single thought I have is about him,” Sanders said, allowing her calm composure to desolve in a stream of tears. “He was my life and reason.”
A well-liked sophomore at Half Moon Bay High School, Koller was with a group of friends late Friday night, when police say he walked onto the highway and was hit by an oncoming northbound vehicle.
Emergency officials were alerted to the accident just after midnight. Paramedics reported that Koller was conscious when they arrived on the scene, but he died shortly afterward.
A resident of Montara, the driver in the accident reportedly tried to render medical aid to Koller and called 911 for help. The driver was going the speed limit and did not show signs of intoxication, according to police.
The driver was not charged with any crime. Police say they are still investigating what caused the fatal accident.
Family, classmates and friends are grieving for the loss of Koller days after the accident. On Monday, about 50 students gathered early in the morning at the central quad of Half Moon Bay High School in silent remembrance of their friend and classmate. Students built a small memorial for Koller, decorating it with an overflow of photos, letters, poems and tokens.
Classmates reminisced about their friend, recalling his sense of humor and a personality that could be in turn sensitive and abrasive.
“He was someone you could always talk to,” said Laura Acton, a close friend who dated Koller for a time last year. “He had a blunt personality. You had to have a sense of humor around him.”
More than anything else, Koller was remembered around the campus as a comedian, known for knocking people’s desks while they were working, or dropping his pants and mooning onlookers.
“He had a contagious personality,” said William O’Daley, a friend since kindergarten. “He wasn’t trying to really be funny; he just was naturally.”
High School English teacher Steve Tracy had known Koller since he was 8 years old and occasionally they even surfed together.
“He had a bit of the rebellious James Dean thing going … I wouldn’t deny that phase. Kids with spirit sometimes have the most resistance.” Tracy said. “He was constantly challenged by trying to be interested. And what he was certainly interested in was surfing.”
In Koller’s bedroom, underneath posters of pro surfer Kelly Slater, is a smaller picture of Koller as an 11-year-old, riding a wave out at a Linda Mar surf championship. He won first place.
That same year, Koller discovered another passion in his life, when his family got their first dog, Piko. Sanders and his father, Paul Koller, say their only child could spend hours playing with dogs. The family members believe Koller would have wanted donations for him to go to a Redwood City animal charity, Pets in Need.
His mother says that she isn’t sure what her son would have done with his life if he had lived to adulthood. She believes her son wanted to help people, inspired by his experience last summer working at a Navajo reservation, where he helped build flash-flood canals.
With that in mind, Koller’s organs are being donated to help 25 people, according to his parents.
“Seth always said, ‘I don’t know what to do, but I want to help people,’” Sanders said. “I don’t want anyone to blame themselves.”
w