Teen’s cycling death was tragic end to ‘ a wonderful day’
Annette Halsted reflected Monday on the difficult birth of her only son 16 years ago — after the Pacific Christian School student was killed Sunday during a charity bike ride from Vancouver to Seattle.
“It was a miracle he was here, so we were blessed with the 16 years we had him,” said Annette Halsted, 48, at her Saanich home.
Xavier Pelletier died in Arlington, Wash., 65 kilometres south of Vancouver, when he clipped another rider and fell into the path of an oncoming vehicle, according to police reports. The Grade 10 student was riding the 200- kilometre, two- day Ride to Conquer Cancer trek in honour of his uncle, Trevor Halsted, 45, who has battled brain cancer.
“He was only there for me,” Trevor Halsted said. “I saw it happen, it was horrendous.
“He should have come home with us last night. There’s no way to rationalize it. We were all just riding together having a wonderful day.”
Annette Halsted was farther behind in the pack and didn’t see the crash — a tragic accident for which no one, including the 50- year- old female driver of the car, can be blamed, she said.
Paramedics tried to revive Xavier for 40 minutes, police said, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The night before the accident, his mother said, “we laughed, we had dinner together.” Until the crash “it was just a wonderful day.”
A photo of a robust Xavier, just four days old and sitting in his sister Jennifer’s arms, rested on the dining- room table as the family gathered Monday. Xavier’s father, Richard Pelletier, with whom Xavier snowmobiled during yearly visits, was on his way to Victoria from his home in Quebec.
The teen’s family described him as funny, loving, adventurous, athletic, fearless and mechanically inclined.
Emergency crews at the scene Sunday mistakenly reported Xavier to be about 30 years old, said Trevor Halsted. “I said, ‘ He’s only 16’.”
If Xavier, with his six- foot- one- inch frame and athletic build, looked older than his years, he also acted that way.
Annette Halsted raised her two children while working as a nurse at Mount St. Mary Hospital, and said Xavier never complained that his mom worked weekends and holidays — including Christmas.
At the age of two, his family recalled, Xavier told his mother to let the rain do her crying. And to his sister, he’d say “anger is a waste of time.”
When a Grade 8 boy at Pacific Christian School confided in Xavier he had no one to play with, Xavier committed to play basketball with him for 20 minutes every day.
Pacific Christian administration, staff and students were in mourning Monday. Exams were made optional. The principal could barely address the students for his tears, said Xavier’s sister.
“He was a well- liked and engaging young man,” says the school’s website. “His legacy of generosity and faithfulness will inspire us all to serve better and love more deeply.”
Annette Halsted said her faith has grown amid an outpouring of support from the Pacific Christian community.
She sent her children there for its caring environment, she said. She told her children she would pay for a good education, sports and good food — for the rest, they’d “have to make do.”
It was those words that Xavier gave back to his mom as they prepared for their charity bike tour, beginning in Vancouver, during which they would have to camp in a tent. Annette Halsted was packing her pillow when Xavier told her she’d have to “make do” and roll up a towel to rest her head.
She said there’s consolation in knowing her son died doing something he loved and that he was having the time of his life on Sunday.
Xavier was riding a road bike, while his mother had borrowed her brother Nigel’s mountain bike.
Xavier told his mother that next year, the two would swap bikes for the charity trek, so that “you’ll be up to speed with us.” It’s a promise she aims to keep. “Next year, I’ll ride his bike.”