‘Kailey gave 100% in everything she did’
Harwinton 14-year-old remembered as smart, selfless and athletic
A14-year-old Harwinton girl who died in an accident last weekend is being remembered as a vibrant, giving person, an outstanding student and a versatile athlete. Kailey Jaie Prenoveau died Aug. 22 when she was hit by a car while standing at the side of Route 222, or Hill Road, in Harwinton, three days before she was to start her sophomore year at Lewis S. Mills High School.
“Kailey gave 100% in everything she did: sports, schoolwork and church callings,” her family members said in her obituary. She leaves behind her parents, Zachary and Alyssa Prenoveau, an older brother, Carsen, a senior at the high school, and two younger brothers, Ashton and Lincoln.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the teen got up extra early to attend 5:45 a.m. seminary class before school her freshman year and received an award for perfect attendance, her family said.
Her schoolwork didn’t suffer for it. The teenager was an “outstanding student,” who was ”off to a wonderful start at the high school, and I have no doubt that she would have done great things throughout her time [here],” said her principal, Chris Rau.
She was a member of the high school’s swim and rowing teams and was looking forward to participating in cross country this year, her family said.
Her swim coach, Reid Matusek, said she enjoyed swimming — and team members really had to like it to stick with it during COVID-19 in the last school year, when there were fewer pools open to them. The team had to travel out of town and sometimes didn’t get out of the water until 10 p.m.
“The kids have to really want to swim. Kailey was one of those persons who really wanted to swim. She had a great work ethic,” he said.
She also was open to using different strokes instead of focusing on the one she’s best at, Matusek said.
“There are kids who prefer one stroke over the other. But Kailey was more versatile. She could swim all the strokes. She would do any I gave her to do,” he said. “She was a good kid. She was very vibrant. The kids on the team liked her.”
Jared Fellows, the crew coach, said his rowers liked her too. He recalled her calling out words of support to some who were struggling with a workout.
Unlike swimming, in which she was experienced because of her years in recreation programs, Kailey was a new rower, he said.
“She was a freshman, but she was excelling beyond the novice standards in the sport,” Fellows said. “She was on a really fast trajectory to a varsity spot.” In fact, she received the novice award for the season.
But there was something even more special about Kailey Prenoveau, he said.
“The coaches and the team saw her as someone who had an aura about her where she could influence anybody to be their best selves, inside and outside of practice, physically and mentally,” Fellows said.
“She could have accomplished so much more.”
“The coaches and the team saw her as someone who had an aura about her where she could influence anybody to be their best selves, inside and outside of practice, physically and mentally.”
— Jared Fellows, crew coach at Lewis S. Mills High School