Teen killed 'had charisma, made impact'

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - Bonnie Kalman was on her morning walk along Port Sheldon Road just before 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

It was still dark. And that's when she heard the jolting sounds of a crash behind her.

"I heard the bang and I turned around and seen the white car and the other truck hit," she said. "So I quick ran back to see once if I could help."

Kalman, a crossing guard at Alward Elementary, knows the road well.

As daylight arrived, it revealed the damage.

The driver of a pick-up truck survived with nonlife-threatening injuries.

But 18-year-old Eric Helm didn't survive. Deputies still are trying to figure out what caused Helm's car to cross the center line into the path of the pick-up truck.

Friends gathered at his family's home for comfort.

Pastor Steve North of Jenison Christian Church said Helm was a big part of the congregation.

"He volunteered with our children' ministry," he said.

Helm also was a popular student at Jenison High.

"This morning, I received a phone call that every superintendent dreads," Superintendent Thomas TenBrink said.

Realizing cell phones and social networking sites would spread the news of the tragedy quickly, he and other Jenison school officials put crisis intervention teams to work at the high school and the elementary building where Helm volunteered as a mentor to sixth-graders.

"Eric was a young man that had a big heart," TenBrink said. "He was a young man that just lit up the room.

"He had charisma. He made an impact. When Eric was missing, everybody knew it. And so, his loss is going to be a huge loss for our district."

Deputies identified the other driver as 46-year-old Joel Brouwer of Hudsonville. He was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries at Metro Health Hospital.

The crash remains under investigation.

Tuesday night's basketball games between Jenison and Tri-Unity have been canceled.

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On the Web:

A video remembering the life of Eric Helm

A Facebook memorial group