OttoWarmbier’s classmate: He was ‘everyone’s friend’

SalleeAnn Ruibal graduated with Otto Warmbier fromWyomingHigh School in 2013. Nowengagement editor at the Post Independent in Glenwood Springs, Colo., she offered these recollections ofWarmbier, who diedMonday after being returned fromNorthKorea in a coma.

I have two memories of OttoWarmbier. The firstwas in third-grade gym class. He nailed me in the back of the head with a kickball. My face hit the hot black pavement. When I got back up, Ottowas a bawling, snot-faced mess apologizing profusely. Itwas a genuine sadness. Hewasn’t upset about potentially getting in trouble. He was upset that he hurt me. He waited outside the nurse’s office, without a teacher forcing him, to apologize.

The secondwas in high school. Otto and Iweren’t ever close friends, merely because he ran in the popular circle given his athletic prowess, classic good looks and unending charisma. But Otto still felt like everyone’s friend in our small town ofWyoming, Ohio, given his nondiscriminatory friendliness.

I remember one day in the lunchroom, I sawhim sit down at the table where all the kids in the special education program sat. His face lit up as he talked to each of the kids, addressing them by name. Hewas his same exuberant, talkative self. They talked sports, popular culture, normal teenage things. Once more, itwas evident Ottowasn’t acting thatway because he felt he should or that itwould gain him favor or attention. He acted thatway because itwas his good nature to.

Lastweek, Otto came back fromNorth Korea after being detained for nearly a year and a half. At first, therewas pure excitement that the hometown boywas coming home. But then, anguish. North Korea said Ottowas in a coma, and had been for over a year. University of Cincinnati doctors said at a press conference that Otto has been diagnosed with unresponsivewakefulness syndrome— an outdated term for the syndrome is being in a vegetative state.

Out of respect for the family, doctors at the press conference did not comment on Otto’s prognosis for recovery.

OnMonday afternoon, his family announced that Otto had died.

InWyoming, ribbons in our school colors, blue and white, are tied around trees in support of Otto and his family. Residents lined the main street, making W’s with their hands as Otto’s family drove by froma press conference.

We, as a community, watched Otto be crowned homecoming and promking. We heard him take the class on a tangent about the prophetic wisdom of the rapper Biggie. Wewere at senior awards where Otto raked in nearly every other scholarship. We heard his speech at graduation where he, the salutatorian of our class, included the famous “The Office” quote: “I wish therewas away to knowyou’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

I don’t have the privilege either of having Otto as a best friend, brother or son. I can’t imagine the weight that is on all of his loved ones. I’m not going to pretend to.

But I stillwanted to talk about Otto. Because hewas a person who deserved to be talked about in the same exuberant, personalway he talked about others. It saddens me that a terrible regime damaged an essential part of Otto— his brain. All I have of Otto is a few memories. And this whole situation is a reminder of howfragile memories are, howimportant the brain is. I’ve seenmy own family members wither away frombrain disease. There’s no recovery for them. I so hoped, tomy core, that there could have been one for Otto. Iwant to keep hearing the stories of Otto fromthose who knowhim best. Memories don’t exist in one person. They’re to be shared and cherished. They’re howwe relate to each other despite all odds. Memories bring us close. Share them with and hug those you love dearly.

And please keep Otto’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

Email SalleeAnn Ruibal at sruibal@postindependent.com.