Family, Friends Gather to Celebrate Cameron Nicholls' Life

One year after , 18, died in a tragic East Quogue car accident, family and friends gathered at a vigil Tuesday night to celebrate his life.

Carrying flowers and candles, friends and family stood before the fountain at the  —  the same spot where mourners held a , only days after Nicholls’ death.

Nicholls, who was a passenger in a car driven by fellow student, , died in a tragic accident last year when the vehicle veered off Lewis Road, flipped and struck a car parked in a driveway.

The year has been filled with grief for all who loved Cameron — but most agreed he would want his family and friends to remember his life and smile.

“So many people loved him,” Cameron’s father David Nicholls said. “Really loved him — he was bigger than we knew.”

Tears streaming down his face, David said other parents should treasure the everyday moments.

“You take it for granted, when you have it in your hands,” he said. “It’s precious — parents should enjoy their kids.”

On Tuesday, a memorial made up of flowers, handwritten notes, photos and cards was once again set up beneath a tree. The memorial, which was tended all year by Barbara Layburn, who dated Cameron, by the Southampton Town Parks and Recreation Department.

Stephanie and David Nicholls, Cameron’s parents, were devastated to learn the memorial had been removed without their knowledge. Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said no “insensitivity or disrespect” had been intended and promised the town would work to create a permanent memorial to Cameron.

To that end, a copper beach tree was planted and a permanent plaque and memorial were erected in the park.

Stephanie Nicholls thanked the town and the over 60 friends who came to remember her boy, especially the “angels,” Cameron’s friends who continued to support his family even after he was gone, stopping over for visits and remaining a part of their lives.

“Without them, I would not be here,” she said. “When I think of Cameron I feel devastated and I want to cry,but today we are here to  celebrate his life.”

Of her son, she said, “I was blessed to know him. He taught me how to live.”

Her son, she said, was known for his smile, for the way that smile lit up his eyes, for his sense of humor and his contagious laugh. Never one to sit idle, he was always headed off on his next adventure — to the gym, to the beach.
Although short, Nicholls said, her son “lived his life. He was comfortable in his skin.

Looking back, Nicholls said every time she left Cameron, she told him, “Be good. Be smart. Be safe.” And, she added, she always told him she loved him.

Friends filed to the fountain to play music, to read poetry — to cry, and to laugh. They remembered summer carnivals, his penchant for going to the movies, childhood campouts in tents, Spooky Walks, knock knock jokes, and a boy who loved the water, and to windsurf. They spoke of how Cameron, after a sleepover, always left something behind — flip flops, a T-shirt.

One friend remembered how Cameron’s smile “lit up a room” and said before his tragedy became news last year, there was so much more.

“There was a life before the death,” she said.

, who was Cameron’s on-again, off again love, sobbed as she recalled his last day -- but smiled through her tears as she imitated his signature laugh and remembered that his last meal, chicken parmagiana pizza, was his favorite — and that he had two slices.

“He made me so happy, just to be around him,” she said. “All we have left now is the good memories.”

J.P. Amato, who met Cameron in baseball camp when they were seven years old, recalled a time when the boys were kayaking. On the way back, conditions were treacherous as they were paddling against the current, but Cameron “was a machine,” and never stopped heading to shore.

“Losing Cameron was a shock,” he said. “It has affected me forever. That day in the kayak, if he hadn’t kept paddling, we never would have made it home. Now, he’s made it home. And he’d want us to keep going — to keep paddling. He would want us to live, for him.”

Added Geralyn Sagar, the mom of Cameron’s friends, “You left your mark on our hearts, Cameron.”