Trygve Skoglund, 19; big voice, big heart
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Throughout his short life, Trygve Skoglund had a way of making his presence known.
At school, it was the big voice and laughter echoing through the hallways.
"You could always hear his voice down the hall," said long-time friend Katherine Forest. "You always knew it was him coming around the corner. He was so vibrant."
If he was standing on the sidelines with his teammates during a Bellevue High School football game, he was the one urging the crowd to yell louder, shouting that the game wasn't over even when things looked bleak.
And Wednesday night, when some 200 classmates, friends and family gathered at the school stadium for a candlelight vigil, it was the hugs that he dispensed so freely that people remembered and gave back to each other, embracing even strangers as they shared stories and memories.
"It was hard being at the vigil, but it also showed his biggest lesson to all of us, said Tami Hansen, a sister.
"He loved with his whole heart. He never held back. He was just a very loving, amazing person."
Trygve Skoglund died Monday (Jan. 1) of a ruptured stomach ulcer at the family's Clyde Hill home. He was 19.
He loved football and was co-captain of his high-school team, and he was honored as all-league center last year. He had been helping to coach the junior-varsity team at Bellevue High while starting out as a freshman at the University of Washington. Family members cautioned him about taking on too much his first semester, but he was determined, said his sister.
"He had learning disabilities and really had to work hard at school, but he loved kids and did it anyway. And he ended up doing really well at both. He was just beaming," she said.
"He probably wasn't one of the most naturally gifted persons, but he had such a big heart."
Born in Alaska, he moved with his family to Bellevue in 1988. He was the youngest of five children in a close and active family that regularly skied together and still regularly gathers for Sunday-night family dinners. At Bellevue High he was involved in various leadership and community-service activities.
Last year had been an especially good one for the family, said Hansen. Her brother graduated from high school, sister Tracy married, and Hansen gave birth to her first child.
At a graduation party last summer, her brother toasted his parents and thanked them for all they'd done to help him through the years.
"He was so proud of his family," said Hansen. "We'd go to his games and he'd always run up the stairs to us and talk to friends about us. He loved us like crazy, just crazy."
Mr. Skoglund is survived by his parents, Susan and Paul Skoglund, of Clyde Hill; a brother, Todd, who lives in Alaska, sister Tami Hansen, her husband, Denny, and son, Hunter, of Seattle; sister Tracy Ballweber and husband, Jon, of Sacramento; and sister Tatum Skoglund of Bellevue.
A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Sacred Heart Church, 9460 N.E. 14th, Clyde Hill. The family asks that remembrances be made to the Bellevue High School football team.
An online memorial book has been set up at www.iMemorialBook.org.