Obituary: Edward 'Teddy' Ebersol
Ebersol family
By The Ebersol family
Teddy Ebersol died Sunday, November 28, in the crash of a private plane near Telluride, Colorado. He was 14 years old....
Teddy was a warm, loving, and energetic young man with a self-knowledge beyond his years and a wonderfully quirky sense of humor that led him to say things that could be interpreted as silly and profound at once. While speaking at his eighth-grade graduation ceremony, he said: “A quote that I made up a little while ago seems to make sense to me now as I reflect on the years behind me and the years ahead: ‘I follow, therefore I lead.’”
He loved politics, and enjoyed engaging grownups in lively political discussions. While at the Daytona 500 earlier this year, he took great delight in debating the entire conservative-leaning pit crew of driver Kyle Petty. Bill Rollnick, a family friend who was there with the Ebersols, said: “Teddy explained to them why they were wrong politically, arguing from knowledge. He argued them to their knees. I’m a Democrat and next to Teddy I felt like Jerry Falwell. He was very opinionated, but he was never unkind. At 13 years old, he knew so much. I yearned for the day I could have won an argument with him.”
Although wise beyond his years, Teddy had a charming innocence. A fan of the television show SpongeBob SquarePants, his favorite character wasn’t SpongeBob himself but rather Patrick, the intensely loyal, exuberant sidekick. He enjoyed as well video games (Halo 2 was a recent highlight), music, and the Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books. Teddy often memorized favorite movie lines and entertained his friends and family by quoting dialogue. He loved karaoke, and had a sweet and strong singing voice. He especially enjoyed his many summer sessions at Timberlake at the Farm and Wilderness Camp in Vermont. Teddy was also a prize-winning poet, having won a medal last year at a national poetry convention for a poem he wrote—a humorous poem, naturally.
Teddy served as an altar boy at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Litchfield, and also volunteered at the Litchfield County Association for Retarded Citizens in Torrington. LARC staff member Elaine Tedesco said that Teddy would sit down with the clients “like they had grown up together. He acted like he was their best friend, like he knew them forever.” Teddy also encouraged his classmates to volunteer at LARC....
Donations in Teddy’s memory may be sent to the Litchfield County Association for Retarded Citizens at the following address:
LARC Capital Campaign
In Memory of Teddy Ebersol
84R Main Street
Torrington, CT 06790
Federal Tax ID 06-6075006