HENDERSON — Dressed in camouflage, family and friends celebrated the life of Cherokee Rexwinkle during a bittersweet memorial June 13 in the auditorium of Prairie View High School.
Rexwinkle, 18, died June 6 after his truck went off E-470 and landed upside down on Riverdale Road.
Pastor Doug Dameron, who led the memorial service, said Rexwinkle was probably best known for hunting. Dameron recounted how Rexwinkle returned five weeks ago from a successful hunting trip in Alaska where he shot a seven-foot Kodiak bear.
“I think he probably experienced more hunting adventures in his 18 years than most people do in an entire lifetime,” Dameron said. “He was a passionate kid and enjoyed it very much.”
Grandmother Denise Rexwinkle said everyone who knew him remembered he always wore a smile and his mother, Michelle Wissler, said he was her “little redneck.”
Rexwinkle who graduated magna cum laude from Prairie View last month, worked for Brighton-based Redd Iron Inc. and was pursuing a career in welding. He was a member of National Honor Society, the Colorado Bowfishing Association, Delta Waterfowl and Skills USA.
Dameron said Rexwinkle was known for his skills in welding and received first place in district Skills USA District Welding in 2011 and 2012 and placed second in the state competition in 2012. Rexwinkle was also part of the Skills USA team that won first in district and state and will be going to nationals later this month.
Friend Eli Hulbert said Rexwinkle had a big impact on his life over the last three years and was one of the best friends possible.
“I’m gonna miss him a lot. He had his life straight and a good work ethic. There was never once that I didn’t have fun with him,” he said.
Friend Brandt Fisher said the team is going to nationals in a few weeks and they hope to be victorious in Rexwinkle’s honor.
Cherokee’s father, Rodney Rexwinkle, shared a memento he found while going through his son’s things: a self-written eulogy, created as part of a homework assignment in February.
“Everyone around Cherokee will agree he lived by the quote, ‘Live for something or die for nothing.’ That’s a very hard quote to grasp at a time like this, but Cherokee created the ultimate something to live for. His family, work and friends was his idea of a perfect life,” Rodney Rexwinkle read.
Rexwinkle said the impact Cherokee had on so many lives was evident by the outpouring of support by everyone at the memorial service.
A memorial bowfishing tournament was held in his honor June 16 at Barr Lake State Park in Brighton.