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SIUC honors Rendleman on graduation

By Blackwell Thomas, The Southern

Sunday, May 11, 2008 9:26 AM CDT

CARBONDALE - Applause honoring the life of Southern Illinois University Carbondale student Ryan Rendleman filled Shryock Auditorium Saturday afternoon as his brother Nick accepted Ryan's degree.

It was an outpouring of emotion that his mother Teresa said would have embarrassed Ryan, who was 22.

"He would have been humbled, like 'Oh my gosh, they did this for me?'" she said

Rendleman, a photojournalism student from Batavia, died while travelling on Illinois 127 in Washington County on April 29. His car, which was stopped by a flagger at a work zone, was struck from behind by a transport truck.

In the days since Ryan's death his parents say they have learned more than they ever knew about the many lives their son touched.

From the 500 people who attended church services for Ryan to the nearly 700 people that have joined a page devoted to his life on the social network site Facebook, they said the response has been heartening.

"I knew he was a good kid," said his father, also named Nick. "I just didn't know he was so good to so many people."

Many of the lives Rendleman touched came while working for SIUC's student newspaper the Daily Egyptian. In his time working within the paper's tight-knit newsroom Rendleman made fast friends, said Faculty Managing Editor Eric Fidler.

"When he started off everybody liked him and by this semester, pretty much everybody loved him," he said. "You couldn't not love him."

Fidler added: "I think everyone who knew him considered him a friend and he was good to his friends."

Daily Egyptian Writing Coach Wendy Weinhold described Rendleman as a man of "tremendous appetites."

"That extended to his faith, his friends and food," she said. "Actually, so many stories about Ryan tend to revolve around food."

With that in mind, Fidler offered a story which he said offers a glimpse of who Rendleman was.

"There was a box of pizza in the trash from the day before and Ryan reached in and found an uneaten slice," he said with a chuckle. "When someone pointed out to him that he was eating from the trash Ryan kind of smiled and said, "We are not kings," and he just continued eating."

The truck that struck Rendleman's car was driven by Kevin Morrison, 51, of Beecher City. Morrison told police he looked away from the road briefly to adjust his radio and when he returned his attention he saw the stopped vehicles. Police said three different signs alerted drivers to the upcoming construction zone.

Morrison was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to create a log book as required. Results of toxicology tests are pending.

Blackwell.thomas@thesouthern.com  

351-5823