Dember: Younger brother makes plans for permanent, personal memorial
Continued from page 1
athletically inclined and sports-orient
ed as he was, he did have an amazing
appreciation for art,” Barbara Dember
said. “He was a little bit of a study in
contrast, if you will, in terms of how
he lived.”
Dember got the chance to see most
of the art that was on his list, his
mother said.
“That was something he really
wanted to experience in Italy.”
He was also enjoying his work
with the children at the camp, his
mother said.
“He was having so much fun with
the kids over there,” said Barbara
Dember. “They were playing capture
the flag and flag football; he would
take them to roller coaster parks.”
The University of Oregon is one of
several colleges around the countries
that recruits and trains counselors for
Continued from page 1
“That’s the type of guy he was,
always making people laugh and
playing tricks; everybody liked him
for those sorts of things,” he said.
Rob Howell said his son always
felt a little ashamed of the accident
that paralyzed him, even though it
was not really his fault.
Cody Howell, one of his friends
and another guy he did not really
know, Justin Rainwater, were
drinking at a bar in Veneta in 2003.
Rainwater wanted to leave but Cody
Howell and his friend said they
the Camp Adventure Youth Services
program, which is based at the Uni
versity of Northern Iowa.
“He was immediately selected to
be the athletics counselor because he
was so incredibly athletic,” Barbara
Dember said.
Dember, who played varsity base
ball in high school, was an avid
Ducks fan as well as an avid Seattle
sports fan. He had been selected as
the vice-president of the Pit Crew
administration for the upcoming
basketball season.
Barbara Dember said she could
see her son in the stands on televi
sion whenever she watched Oregon
basketball games.
“I always could find him because
he had his green bandanna on
and was jumping higher than
anyone else. ”
Dember was a business adminis
tration major with a focus in sports
marketing. He was also minoring in
economics, and planned to get an
MBA/JD combination after his un
dergraduate studies.
Dember hoped to one day be a
sports agent, according to his
younger brother David.
“He was always looking to take
care of our mom and dad,” David
Dember said.
David Dember graduated
from Sheldon High School in June.
Though he won a scholarship
to play baseball at Columbia
Union College in Washington, D.C.,
he may not go in order to be
with family.
“I’m trying to listen to Stephen and
see what he’d want me to do,” David
Dember said. “I want to live for my
brother now.”
David Dember is planning to get
a tattoo on his right arm in memory
of his brother. The tattoo will be de
signed by Stephen Dember’s three
best friends at the University.
Though David Dember’s religious
beliefs prohibit getting a tattoo,
he said Dember would understand
the gesture.
“I want to show my brother that I
will do anything for him, and bend
the rules,” David Dember said.
“Every time they poke me and I start
to bleed, that’s a brotherly love —
a bond.”
Dember had been in the last
pledge class that was supposed to
join Sigma Nu before the fraternity
was shut down. During the process
he became friends with University
alumnus Dharm Khalsa.
“I thought he was a really great
guy. I always liked him. He was su
per-intelligent,” Khalsa said. “He was
just great to be around.”
Before leaving to work for Camp
Adventure in Italy, Dember had
worked for the Eugene Country
Club. He had just been accepted
into the Business Honors College at
the University’s Lundquist College
of Business.
“I think he did more things in his
20 years than most people do in
60,” his mother said.
The Dembers will host a celebra
tion of Stephen’s life at Calvary
Chapel of Eugene at 4060 W. Ama
zon Dr. on Friday at 1 p.m. The
event is open to the public.
In lieu of flowers, the Dembers
ask that memorial contributions be
made to the Stephen A. Dember
Memorial Warsaw Sports Business
Scholarship Fund through the UO
Foundation. This fund will help
send sports business students to
school at the University.
gabebradley@ daily emerald, com
Howell: His condition was caused by a dmnk driver, but 'he was never vengeful'
should stay.
“After arguing for a while, Cody
said he wasn’t going to drive since
he’d been drinking,” Rob Howell
said, “so he got in the back of the
car and went to sleep.” While Cody
slept in the back, Rainwater got be
hind the wheel. He took a corner
too fast and flipped the car on Terri
torial Road near Cheshire, crashing
into an electricity pole and pinning
the rear of the car against it.
“Cody’s friend and Rainwater
got away without a scratch, but
Cody broke his neck,” paralyzing
him from the neck down, Rob
Howell said.
“He was never vengeful, though,”
Rob Howell said of his son.
“The district attorney tried to get
me to prosecute him, but I
walked away. I probably would
have went after him, but Cody did
n’t want to. We didn’t care what
happened to (Rainwater). ”
Cody Howell received his
settlement from the accident and
began investing it in the stock mar
ket. He and his investing adviser got
along so well, his father said, that
she told him if he went back to
school and finished his business
degree she would hire him as an in
vesting consultant.
“She would come see Cody
about two times a week,” Rob How
ell said. “They made $1,800 one
time when he was in the hospital
in Portland.”
Cody Howell went to Seattle,
Wash., for rehabilitation, where he
learned how to operate a computer
and wheelchair with his mouth.
Then, during a minor operation to
combat a urinary tract infection,
doctors cut through the back of his
bladder. From Easter 2005, when
the operation took place, until July
30, when he died, Howell fought
through 33 operations.
Cody’s death will add new
details to the Measure 11 charges
against Rainwater, but Rob Howell
said he was not concerned with
the outcome.
“Whatever happens won’t bring
Cody back and it wouldn’t make
him feel any better,” he said.
nwilbur@ daily emerald, com
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