Teenager remembered for his genuine nature

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT BEACH -- Genuine is the word most commonly used to describe

teenager Ryan Newman, who died in a car collision on Sunday night.

“When you talked to him, it was always a burst of good energy he would

give out, a good vibe to be around,” said Christine Cardwell, 18, who

knew the 18-year-old when he was a student at Newport Harbor High School.

Newman lost control of his brand new Chevy Tahoe on the San Diego

Freeway, swerved to the left and crashed into the center divider wall,

said California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Reeves.

The Tahoe overturned, and a Toyota Camry behind Newman, which could

not stop in time, crashed into him, Reeves added.

Newman graduated from high school in the middle of his junior year and

started taking classes at Orange Coast College to accelerate his plans to

be an attorney, said his stepmother, Jane Newman.

“Ryan is highly intelligent,” she said. “School came very easy to him.

He was one of those kids who didn’t need to study and still got an A.”

His departure from high school also followed his mother’s death from

cancer more than a year ago, said Brittany Iverson, a friend from Newport

Harbor who hung out with him after his mother died.

“‘I kind of ditched school and went to the beach with him, where he

and his mom usually went,” the 17-year-old said. “He kind of had a hard

life.”

His father also had a stroke in April, his stepmother said, but Newman

was able to get through that too because of his faith.

“He was very spiritual and he really clung to that. I think that’s

what made him so strong,” she said. “He had to grow up kind of fast.”

Despite the adversity in his life, Cardwell said Newman maintained a

positive attitude.

“Regardless of how much of his bad feelings he was fighting back, he

still had a great attitude toward me,” Cardwell said.

He was also highly sensitive to his friends’ needs, said Danielle

Buceta. Newman’s best friend, she graduated from Newport Harbor High

School last year and worked with him on the school paper.

Buceta said Newman would visit her almost every day at her job at Napa

Valley Pizza and Pasta.

“He was very talented, very creative,” Buceta said. “We just clicked

because we had the same mind, same thinking pattern, same everything. For

about a year straight, there wasn’t a day where we did not see each other

for a long period of time or at least talk. More than a day without

seeing each other and we’d go crazy.”

Buceta also reminisced about a special gift Newman gave her on her

18th birthday -- a Tiffany’s bracelet that she had admired in passing.

“No matter what Ryan was going through, he always had his heart, he

always cared,” she said.

That sensitivity was felt and valued at home as well, his stepmother

said, adding that Newman refrained from torturing his little sister as

most older brothers do.

She said she was grateful that she was able to have dinner with him

the night of the accident.

“He left here happy and got to see his little sister,” she said.

Newman is survived by two sisters, his father and his stepmother.

His funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Westminster

Memorial Park in Westminster.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .