The Ludlow High School community experienced a significant loss on March 26 when Nathan Carreira died suddenly.

The next day at LHS, grieving students and faculty members came together to remember the 15-year-old son, older brother, football player, skier, artist, musician, and poet. Counselors were on hand to help students who were struggling with the tragedy.

In addition to being a gifted athlete, Carreira wrote poetry. He liked to write about love and his girlfriend, Tia Paine, also a freshmen at LHS.

“My fondest memory is us just hanging out and listening to our favorite music together,” said Paine, adding that he particularly liked rock and rap.

“Nate was very goofy kid,” said Paine. “He said what he thought and was very outgoing.”

Paine will miss everything about him, his smile, and the way he made people happy. “Everything was great about him. He loved being around his favorite people such as his friends and me.”

Paine will also remember how Nate hated “how he couldn’t draw kermit the frog the way he wanted to…. and when people were mean to him and his friends, or when people were sad.” Unlike many Ludlowites, he “hated soccer.”

On March 28,  Saint Elizabeth hosted a memorial service for Nathan. The Church was filled with his family, friends, staff of LHS and people that didn’t really know him.

“Nate hated seeing people hurt or down. He hated to see people disappointed,” said senior Chris Clark.

Clark will miss how he made people smile. “Nate’s personality was nice. He was funny, kind, and he was the best friend anyone would ever want.”