Bright-Eyed Teen Died Too Soon, Mourners Say

Cameron Spencer Cook, an 18-year-old known for his bright blue eyes and generous spirit, should have been among his "young and vibrant" friends and classmates Friday, sitting on pews in the .

Instead, his ashes were laid to rest in a wood box in front of an ornate golden altar, solemn eulogies of his short life echoing off the domed ceiling overhead. "This shouldn't be, this isn't right," his uncle Andrij Witiuk said. "I never told you enough how much I love you."

Cook, an alumnus of JSerra Catholic High School, in a .

On Friday, about 200 people gathered inside the basilica for his funeral Mass. Father Charbel Grbavac read from the Gospel of John, beseeching Cook's family to remember Jesus' mother, Mary, "who has experienced [their] exact pain ... the personal pain of losing her only son."

Cook was a scholar athlete who played varsity tennis at JSerra during his two years at the private school, but it was the memory of a volleyball match when Cook was younger—standing just 3½ feet tall—that brought his uncle to tears.

Witiuk described Cook, his little face red with "physical energy" and his skinny arms flailing for the ball, as a boy whose life passed by in a flash. Not into material possessions, Cook, was considerate with a wry sense of humor.

"So when I see you next, and I'm sure I will, set up the net and I'll bring the volleyball," Witiuk said.

Cook was generous, too. Peter Witiuk, his godfather and uncle, said Cook had just recently offered to take care of Witiuk's handicapped kid if anything were to happen him and his wife.

"He wanted to give his love to everything," said his cousin Anna Witiuk. "The biggest example of that is the way he handled his cat Rocky—it was like his brother."

The Witiuks lamented that they were weren't around as much as they would have liked to see Cook grow up. But their twice-a-year visits from the East Coast were punctuated with memories of a playful boy who had developed a gentle demeanor in his later teenage years.

"I was struck by how clear and bright his eyes were," Peter Witiuk said of the last time he saw Cook. "We will miss him dearly."