'Always a positive kid': Friends, family remember Lake Wales man killed in post-Ian crash

In the profile photo on his Facebook page, Tyler Watson beams at the camera.

Those who knew him say the smile was an almost permanent feature on the face of the Lake Wales resident.

Heather Romanosky, a science teacher at Lake Wales High School, recalled the impression Watson made when he entered her class as a freshman.

“Man, did that boy have some energy,” Romanosky, known as Coach Romo, said in an email. “His smile lit up the room. He was fun, energetic, a comedian, always making everyone laugh. Always a positive kid and worked so hard.”

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Watson, 22, was heading to work on Oct. 1, three days after Hurricane Ian swept through Polk County, when the truck in which he was a passenger struck a tree that had fallen across Old Bartow Lake Wales Road. He soon died of his injuries, and his death is one of two in Polk County officially deemed related to the hurricane.

Watson’s older sister, Adrienne McCall of Winter Haven, said Watson worked for a company whose employees unloaded cargo from ships along Florida’s coasts. McCall said a company vehicle picked Watson up from a waiting area along S.R. 60 and transported him to job sites.

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At around 6 a.m. on Oct. 1, a close family friend, Hosie Session Jr. of Lake Wales, was driving Watson to the dropoff point. As Session headed west on Old Bartow Lake Wales Road, his 1996 Ford F-150 truck crashed into a tree trunk that covered the westbound lane, according to a report from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

The accident occurred before dawn on a stretch of road with no lighting. Local residents told PCSO investigators that branches had been removed from the road earlier. It appeared that the tree had recently become uprooted and fallen across the street, the report said.

“I can't bring myself to go back there yet,” McCall said recently.

McCall said that Session, whom her brother called “Unc,” short for Uncle, sustained a broken neck. The PCSO report said he was taken to a hospital from the accident scene. His current condition could not be determined

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Watson’s family held a funeral service for him on Oct. 8 at New Hope Free Will Baptist Church in Lake Wales, and he was buried at Lake Wales Memorial Gardens.

McCall said that she and her brother had endured the death of their mother last year.

McCall said her brother enjoyed playing football and basketball but didn’t join the school teams at Lake Wales High. Watson attended Polk State College, according to his Facebook page, and Warner University in Lake Wales confirmed that he was enrolled there last year.

Watson worked at a Walmart before starting the new job about two months before her death, McCall said.

“He was always smiling, always had a smile on his face,” McCall said of her brother. “He had a good spirit about him, just his personality itself. He never let too many things worry him. He was a big motivator to others. He encouraged people to do their best, especially his friends and people he went to school with. He was really pushing them.”

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McCall said her brother aspired to open a business, though he hadn’t decided on exactly what type.

Jaime Winfree had Watson in her classes when she taught at Hillcrest Elementary and then at Lake Wales High School.

“Tyler was one of the most spunky and energetic students I ever taught in elementary school,” Winfree, now a librarian at Polk Avenue Elementary, said in an email. “By the time he got to high school, that energy had not decreased, but he used it to be encouraging and kind. He was so cheerful and fun to be around. I will miss Tyler, and I am eternally grateful I was able to love him most of his life.”

Romanosky, the Lake Wales High science teacher, said she was “devastated” when she learned of Watson’s death.

“He would check up on his old coach from time to time, asking how my boys were and how I was,” she said by email. “He always said, ‘If you ever need anything, Coach, I’m here.’ It should have been the other way around. He was so nice and went out of his way for people. He left this earth too soon. I hope his family knows they raised an amazing young man. I will miss Tyler dearly. God bless him and his family.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Hurricane Ian deaths: Lake Wales resident Tyler Watson killed in crash