Hundreds remember teens killed in school-break canoe accident

<p>Known as a bright boy with a quirky smile and an infectious spirit, 14-year-old Sean Wilkinson, one of two boys who died during a school-break canoe trip accident in the Gulf of Mexico, was remembered Friday by friends and family at his funeral.</p><p>More than 600 people attended the service at Wildwood Baptist Church, where 80 floral arrangements filled the chapel with the both peacefully laid in his casket with pictures of friends and family members beside him. Sniffles and sounds of sobbing echoed through the chapel as a pianist played solemn songs.</p><p>"He's having a blast with God and if he could look down on us now he would tell us that," said Tommy McDeermond, Wilkinson's cousin and a Sunday school teacher at the church. "Sean is certainly a boy who brighten all our lives and he's going to be missed."</p><p>The bodies of Wilkinson and 14-year-old schoolmate Clay McKemie of Rome were found Monday off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. The boys disappeared last Saturday in choppy waters along the coast about a 100 miles north of Tampa, Fla., while on a canoe trip with a group of students and adults from the Darlington School in Rome.</p><p>Services for McKemie were set for Friday afternoon at the school's chapel.</p><p>"Anytime you lose a student it's rough and it's always hard to understand the loss of a child," said Bill King, Wilkinson's music instructor. "Sean and Clay both endeared you to them. They will be sorely missed."</p><p>King said Wilkinson became interested in playing the steel drums this year and quickly developed a talent for it. He also enjoyed tennis and drama class.</p><p>"We're going to miss him," said Mary O'Brien, a 17-year-old junior at the school. "He was a great kid, really nice. His spirit was, like, infectious."</p><p>Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officials said the deaths are being treated as an accident and that no laws were broken. However, they said the trip's organizers failed to bring a weather radio, did not have enough safety equipment, and there was no way to communicate between boats.</p><p>The trip was conducted by Steve Hall, an English teacher at Darlington who owns an outdoor adventure company and had led many previous trips.</p><p>"I don't see how anybody can put blame on anybody," King said. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances. I have to feel for Steve, he's done these trips a number of times. I feel sorry for everybody involved."</p><p>Darlington, a 100-year-old co-educational college prep and boarding school, is on spring break this week.</p>

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