As Floral Park Memorial High School seniors prepare for the road ahead, they celebrate a legacy of true friendship, good will and humor classmates Kevin McArthur and Robert "Bobby" Getschel have left behind.

"As I look around this gymnasium, it is obvious that both students touched the lives of many people. There are no words that can describe this tragedy," Floral Park Memorial High School Principal Kathleen Sottile said.

"Floral Park Memorial High School is a very, very special place. Not only do we educate and nurture our students, but we love as well. To the parents of Bobby and Kevin, I am proud to say we love Bobby and Kevin. To the Class of 2006 ... your actions, intentions, thoughts and courage which you have shown this past week sets you apart from all others..."

Kevin and Bobby died a day apart from one another, just one week before their high school graduation. During a memorial service in the high school's gym June 20, district faculty and administration posthumously presented their parents with their sons' diplomas. And as classmates gear up for the high school prom and anxiously await diplomas of their own, they mourn friends who helped them see the bright side of life with a laugh, a smile or a lending hand.

"Both young men lived life with an eternal sense of joy," 2006 Class President Matthew King said. "If I ever had to choose two people to represent what the Class of 2006 stands for, and two people who have the personality and demeanor and strength and character to be what young students should aspire to become, I would choose, hands down, Bobby Getschel and Kevin McArthur. When you can greet everything and everyone with optimism ... or manage to always be there for any friend who was ever in dire need of cheering up, you will experience life like they did."

Kevin McArthur died in a horrific car accident on Plainfield Avenue in Floral Park June 14, as did Max-Lesly Auguste, 19, Michael Richardson, 20 and Nyana Adingupu, 16. A fifth passenger, Aaron Richardson-Hourie, 16, a tenth-grader at Floral Park Memorial, is the only survivor, in stable condition at Winthrop-University Hospital with two broken legs.

The accident hit the close-knit school community hard. Kevin's classmate, Bobby Getschel, was among the Floral Park firefighters who responded to the crash. He then made sure everything was in order for a candlelight vigil in Memorial Park. Bobby, who had open-heart surgery in 2001, took a quick nap and a Regents exam June 15 and went back to bed. But when his father tried to wake him, he was already gone.

Student Chris Murray admitted he wasn't sure what to say when asked to speak at the memorial. But when he took a walk that night to gather his thoughts and saw a haze of light from hundreds of candles still lit in the village square, it came to him. "We have a responsibility to these boys to continue their way of life," he said.

Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri, in this week's column, wrote: "On behalf of this village let me offer my heartfelt condolences to the families and yes to the Class of 2006 as they approach their graduation. Death always catches the young most unaware. True wisdom is always touched with a drop of sadness and now you, the best and the brightest have, through the tempest of tragedy, become wise. I assure you that the years teach things the days never know and you will, in God's good time, place it all in its proper place."

Family and friends buried Robert Getschel June 19 and Kevin McArthur June 21. They planned on attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Nassau Community College respectively and were just 18 years old.