Eleven year old remembered as a 'shooting star'

A memorial service is 11 a.m. Saturday at Tahoe Community Church for an 11-year old boy whose death Monday was ruled a suicide.

Chandler Nash Elliott is remembered by his family and friends as someone who loved Cub Scouts, dirt bikes and inventing gadgets.

The fifth-grader from Zephyr Cove Elementary was found hanging in his home on Kingsbury Grade. Officials from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office have ruled his death a suicide.

"Chandler wanted to go to college; he was going to be a success," said Marie Barstow, the boy's mother who shared joint custody with father David Elliott.

"He was a shooting star," Barstow said, beginning to cry. "He's going to be missed by a lot of people."

Chandler lived with his father on Kingsbury Grade and spent weekends with his mother in Virginia City. She and her husband Greg Barstow were in Arizona looking at property when a friend from South Lake Tahoe called, asking if she was alone and if she was sitting down.

Then the friend said, "It's really, really bad. It's the worst thing that can happen," Barstow recalled.

The Barstows got into their motor home and drove for 13 hours, reaching South Lake Tahoe on Tuesday.

"He was such a 'big' person," Barstow said. "People couldn't forget him. He was good looking, but he wasn't conceited. He was generous. He would do anything for anybody."

David Elliott said he was "just crushed" by his son's death.

"What a blessing he was to my life," Elliott said by phone Wednesday.

At Zephyr Cove Elementary, where Chandler had attended school since kindergarten, students and staff met with counselors from the school district to discuss their classmate's death.

"I think for the students that were closest to him, the classmates, it was utter shock and disbelief," said Principal Nancy Cauley. "Younger students don't understand the full measure of what has happened."

With only 225 students in the elementary school, Cauley said most kids knew and liked Chandler.

"This is a very small community up here," Cauley said. "Word travels lightning fast, so it was really important that as soon as we learned of the tragedy we immediately acted to support our kids and of course our teachers."

The students were told what Chandler did was "not OK," Cauley said.

"We are empowering them to talk to people that they know and trust, and to make those people listen to them if they have problems," she said.

Cauley remembered the 11-year-old as someone who loved his dirt bike, sledding and the outdoors.

"He had a great sense of humor and was very dynamic," Cauley said. "I perceived him as a leader.

"It just breaks my heart," she added.

Tahoe Community Church is located at 145 Daggett Way. Donations can be made to the Boy Scouts of America, or to a fund in his name at El Dorado Savings Bank, account number 14001301.