By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
One week after Stone Foltz’s organs were donated and he was removed from life support, his university gathered to remember his life and mourn his death.
His girlfriend, who called 911 to get help for Foltz, told of the quiet boy she loved who was her polar opposite.
His roommate, who performed CPR on Foltz, told of his friend who will remain with him forever.
And BGSU President Rodney Rogers, who has two young sons of his own, told of the immeasurable loss felt by so many.
“Today is one we wish had never come,” Rogers said of the memorial held in the football stadium Sunday evening.
“Sadly, I didn’t know Stone,” Rogers said. But in meeting with Foltz’s family, he learned about the kind and resilient young man, who looked out for others.
“Today we grieve and we are hurt,” he said. “We certainly don’t have all the answers to this tragedy.”
But Rogers stressed that there should be no more deaths like Foltz’s.
“We must ensure we are never in this situation again,” he said.
BGSU has suspended the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity being investigated in the reported hazing of Foltz, a sophomore business major from Delaware, Ohio.
Four friends of Foltz shared stories with those in the stands at the football stadium.
“There’s a million things I could say,” said his girlfriend, Maddy Borja. Foltz cared about his appearance, she said. He preferred skinny jeans over sweatpants, kept his nails manicured, asked her to trim his eyebrows, and would wear a hat on “bad hair days.”
He was a beautiful young man, she said. “But his soul was ever better,” Borja added.
She described Foltz as an introvert, who was the polar opposite of her personality.
“He put up with my loud in-your-face personality,” she said. “He would laugh at all my jokes, even if they weren’t funny.”
Borja remembered one date night when she was having trouble walking home in her high heels. “He put me on his back and hiked me all the way back home,” she said.
Borja was the person who called 911 to get help for Foltz on March 4.
“I questioned why I was the one to watch him leave the world,” she said. “As I laid my head on Stone’s chest and said my last goodbye,” she asked for a way to carry on his legacy.
“We can carry each other – so we don’t have to walk alone,” Borja said.
Wade McKenzie, who performed CPR on his roommate, talked of his grief.
“My tears have run dry,” he said. “He was the type of guy to stand up for others.”
“You will forever be my friend,” McKenzie said to Foltz. “I will carry you with me forever.”
Another friend, Megan Adams, remembered Foltz as a kind young man.
“I think that the world would be a better place if we all lived like Stone,” she said.
And friend Jaelyn Gray talked about the injustice of Foltz’s death.
“What happened to Stone is not OK or acceptable,” Gray said. “We need to speak up when we see somebody getting in a bad situation.”
She was the only person to speak who addressed the reported cause of Foltz death from hazing involving excessive alcohol consumption.
“We need to be here for each other. Peer pressure is real and so is hazing,” Gray said.
BGSU Undergraduate Student Government President Harrison Carter, acted as emcee for the memorial. He spoke of the loss of both Foltz and Mason Rowell, 21, a senior studying mathematics and physics, who died on March 3.
“Now more than ever, we must unite as a campus community,” Carter said.
He urged fellow students to reach out to others and check in with them.
In the stands was Ben Batey, the university’s chief health officer, who said mental health services are available to help those struggling.
“We did see an uptick in requests” at the counseling center last week, Batey said. “We want to be here to support the community.”
In addition to counseling, efforts are continuing to make students aware of the risks of alcohol and binge drinking, Batey said.
Some in the stands were friends of Foltz – others were feeling the loss without ever meeting him.
“I think what happened to him is really tragic,” said Abraham Roos. “It’s important to come out and show support and be together as a community.”
