Bus Accident Victim Remembered as Free Spirit

By yesterday, Small had slipped on a second ring.

"I decided to put my band on, too," Small said.

After attending Shepherd University, Stoll started work at the Fairfax branch of the national landscaping firm Brickman Group, installing plants and turf across Northern Virginia. He was so efficient at filling mulch that the company sent him to Philadelphia to train its landscapers there, said his mother, Kathi Nguyen.

Stoll and Feiock worked together at the Fairfax office, said Todd Thompson, who heads Brickman's Alexandria office. They joined coworkers in taking the office's interns to Friday's Nationals game, Thompson said.

Efforts to reach Feiock's family yesterday were unsuccessful. Stoll's family said Feiock had recently moved from North Carolina and that Stoll helped him learn the ropes at the landscaping company.

Stoll taught himself Spanish so he could better communicate with the workers he supervised, many of whom were Latino immigrants, Nguyen said.

"He had an innovative way of thinking," said Nguyen, who fought back tears behind her dark sunglasses. "He was just so smart and he spoke full sentences when he was 1. He just loved to learn."

"He didn't have time to clean his room," she joked, "but he had time to learn."

Stoll made friends easily, as evidenced by the outpouring of tributes from friends on his Facebook page. He enjoyed fishing, played lacrosse and football, and cheered for the Washington Redskins.

He also loved cooking and attending rock concerts. Before a Dave Matthews Band concert this summer, Stoll and Small grilled during the tailgate. Instead of the typical fare of hamburgers and hot dogs, Stoll cooked flank steak and ribs.

"He was just a free spirit," Stoll's sister, Alica, 18, said. "He lived every day like it was his last day. He got, like, 50 years of living in his 24 years."

Stoll's family was reluctant to discuss the bus accident. "Something happened," Nguyen said. "I don't know what happened. I don't know all the facts."

For them, his death still hasn't settled in.

"I keep on thinking he's going to walk in the door and say, 'Hey, Alica, why are you crying?' " his sister said. "But he won't."

Staff writer Chico Harlan contributed to this report.