<< Previous   of   Next >> Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Silver Firs Elementary School fifth-graders (from left) Angela Davis, Maggie Paxson and Hanna Frazier, all 11, listen as other students recall memories of Codey Porter at a ceremony Tuesday afternoon. Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Silver Firs Elementary students and teachers left handwritten ornaments hanging from a Japanese maple tree in the courtyard. Kevin Nortz / The Herald  (click to enlarge) A plaque rests under a Japanese maple tree planted in Codey Porter's honor in the courtyard at Silver Firs Elementary School. (click to enlarge) Codey Porter

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Codey's “Noodles of Joy” Classmates of Codey Porter at Silver Firs Elementary School played an instrumental song on their recorders and xylophones Tuesday that included measures the Everett boy wrote before he died in a sandbox accident in March. Silver Firs music teacher Jackie Minchew weaved Codey’s contribution, which the fifth-grader called “Noodles,” with Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Listen to a portion of the song Minchew affectionately calls “Noodles of Joy.”

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Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com

Classmates honor Codey Porter, who died in sandbox accident

By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer

EVERETT -- His desk in Room C-4 had been vacant since March.

On Tuesday, it was removed from the fifth-grade classroom to the courtyard at Silver Firs Elementary School.

Codey Porter's classmates were finally ready to let it go, but not the memory of their playful, freckle-faced friend.

Nearly two months after he died playing in a sandbox, classmates played music written by Codey on their recorders and xylophones in the school's courtyard.

The song, arranged by Silver Firs music teacher Jackie Minchew, was a mix of a four-measure melody Codey composed and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Codey had titled his work "Noodles" and Minchew calls the song "Noodles of Joy."

Codey's death made national news because of the unusual circumstances. The 10-year-old was believed to be mimicking Japanese anime superheroes in a friends' sandbox March 8 when he asked friends to bury him. They quickly dug him out when they realized he stopped breathing and adults performed CPR until aid arrived.

Playmates told adults the boy was re-creating a scene from "Naruto," a popular Japanese animated cartoon show. One of the characters can manipulate sand that helps him escape adversaries.

Codey died two days after the accident, with his family by his side at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

"It's just a tragic accident," his father, Rick Porter, said Tuesday. "There were just a lot of things that went wrong."

Tuesday's ceremony was filled with the innocence of children and perspectives of adults. Happy reflections followed solemn moments.

Classmate Josh Frazer was impressed that Codey "knew every pressure point in the body" and fellow fifth-grader Danny Bracy was thrilled to be invited to Codey's birthday party at the skating rink.

Third-grade teacher Carol Sanders fondly recalled that Codey had been perfectly comfortable grabbing her hand to walk alongside her.

Classmate Callie VanAelst will remember Codey's kindness most of all, like the time "he passed the (math) timed test and I didn't, but Codey kept telling me I could pass it."

Classmates and friends wrote down their memories and placed them on the leafy limbs of a Japanese maple planted in the school's courtyard in Codey's memory. Near it was a black stone marker remembering him.

Codey's desk is gone, but there is another tangible reminder of him for his classmates to touch when they feel the need.

Kathy Hanlon, Codey's fifth-grade teacher, brought Codey a soft, floppy-eared toy dog with a red bandana on the Sunday before he died. His family tucked it under his arm in his hospital bed and later gave it back to Hanlon.

His friends named the stuffed animal after Codey and have taken turns holding it over the days and weeks afterward.

Rick Porter was in the courtyard Tuesday, as were other relatives and family friends.

He brought Codey's urn with him, leaving it in the front passenger seat of a 2003 Ford Mustang GTE that the little boy treasured.

"I brought him to school one last time in his favorite car," Porter said. "We got him as close as we could get him."

Rick Porter takes solace in knowing his son is helping others live.

His organs were donated to five different people, ages 8 to 55, the father said.

"To be honest, I'm just happy that their families didn't suffer the same loss that my family did," he said.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.