FELLSMERE — Friends remembered Paul Hagenmaier as someone who knew how to tell a good joke. On Wednesday night, more than 200 mourners met at MESA Park to honor Hagenmaier who died early Monday from injuries sustained in a motocross accident Sunday at the park.
The Sebastian River High School sophomore turned 15 in October.
“We used to talk and hang out,” said Chase Permenter, a fellow motocross rider and a ninth grader at Sebastian River High. “We made each other laugh. This is really bad and hard to believe. The size of this crowd honors him real good.”
Relatives and students placed flowers and candles in a vigil on the one-mile dirt track near where Hagenmaier crashed. Later in the night, they fastened balloons on his Suzuki 250 2 Stroke and revved it up in memory before it was ridden for a lap around MESA Park.
“This (memorial) is the only thing that’s holding the family together,” said Paul Hagenmaier, the teen’s dad. “I can’t say enough about the local community. This is a surprising phenomenon. We’ve got relatives all over — Arizona, New York, Louisiana. I just wish everyone could be here. So many of his half brothers and sisters couldn’t come.”
Dylan Permenter, Chase’s brother, also was riding his motorcycle at the track Sunday when the accident happened.
“He just went up and the bike took a nosedive,” said Permenter, who is a 10th grader at Sebastian River High. “Then, the front tire crashed hard. He was unconscious and snoring hard at that point.”
Permenter and Hagenmaier shared a love for comedian Kevin Hart’s humor.
“Paul loved doing country-hick jokes,” Permenter said. “He was always imitating the voice of a hick. Paul was pretty popular in school, even those who didn’t know him well knew who he was.”
Gary Moore, another motocross enthusiast from Sebastian River High who often rode with Hagenmaier at the track, which reopened last year after being dormant for nearly a decade, broke his neck a little more than two years ago while riding. Moore and other friends would eat lunch with Hagenmaier after fourth-period class.
“This Aug. 9 will be three years,” Moore said. “I broke my C-2 and they had to do three days of surgery. I was in the hospital for three weeks. Paul’s death touches home with me. It makes me wonder who decides and why did I get a second chance?”
Samantha Madigan shared a seventh-grade computer class with Hagenmaier.
“He was a real good guy,” Madigan said. “I feel real bad for his family. I know how his family feels. I had a sister who died (six years ago). He’s in a paradise now.”
Ashley Mackowski was one of many who walked through the dirt and mud and navigated past the small streams at MESA Park to light a candle for her friend.
“He was real outgoing; I’ll miss him,” Mackowski said. “I hope he rests in peace. We had another friend pass away not that long ago. It’s not fair; nobody should ever die that young. I know he’s in heaven looking over us and being everyone’s guardian angel.”
Hagenmaier’s mother, Lori Griggs-Gjika, was pleased that MESA Park allowed her son’s friends to meet at the park.
“We wanted to be where he spent his last waking moment,” Griggs-Gjika said. “We know that he loved this place a lot. Bradley Fucci (son’s friend) is going to ride on for Paul.”
Dylan Permenter is worried about riding in the future.
“It’s pretty hard when you start to think that it could happen to you,” Permenter said. “When you start to think too much in the sport, you don’t pay attention. That’s when you can get hurt.”
Another service will be held for Hagenmaier on Saturday at MESA Park, where the family plans to spread his ashes after he is cremated.
