FALL RIVER — Students at Fall River High School remembered a lost friend on Wednesday as they sent message-filled balloons to the heavens.

Owen Brumm would have been 18 on Wednesday. The Fall River High School senior died Oct. 5 as the result of a one-car accident on Behan Road one mile north of Columbus.

Brumm's friend Sam Newton said the time following his death was very trying.

"It was hard but it brought us all together, a lot," Newton said.

For his friend Jake Henry it was the answer to a dream he had a few months ago.

"I had a dream that we had been talking over the phone and he told me that it would be all right," Henry said. "It's been hard for me to understand what happened, but with everyone gathered together here being strong for him, I think what he said will be true.

"It shows he was there. It was probably him."

Brumm's family had moved to Fall River six years ago. Brumm quickly became a good friend to many of the students in the school. He was a member of the school's baseball team and was employed at Slumberland in Beaver Dam.

"He was probably the most outgoing and smartest guy that I knew," Henry said. "Even people who met him once will never forget him."

Rachael Dauman, who attended homecomings and proms with Brumm, said the mood in the school was supportive on Wednesday.

"We all knew what was going on," Dauman said "We all looked forward to showing our support to the family."

Owen's parents, Todd and Linda Brumm, organized the birthday celebration. Todd Brumm and Henry spoke to the crowd of almost all the students of the school before the students and Brumm family members released the balloons at 3:45 p.m., the time of Brumm's birth on March 11, 1991.

"This brings his life full circle," Linda Brumm said.

The Brumms want to open a Compassionate Friends group, a national support group for parents whose children have died. However they have to have been through 18 months of bereavement before they can open a chapter.

It is still a mission the family feels is worth the wait.

"You have to reach out to other parents," Linda Brumm said. "It's a pain that only those parents who have gone through it can feel."

The Brumms and Owen's close friends then took a limousine ride to Janesville to go out to eat to further celebrate Owen's life.

"It's been a hard year," Linda Brumm said. "We wanted to wish his friends well and wanted to keep in touch with them."

tpederson@capitalnewspapers.com