Friends and family packed the chapel and hallway of Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito Wednesday afternoon to mourn Jeremy Crowder, an El Cerrito High School senior whose life was cut short when he was hit and killed by a train.

"To see so many of you here today means so much to Jeremy's family," said pastor Larry Patterson during the eulogy. "I would love for Jeremy to see the lives he affected that are here today."

Attendance was estimated at 400 or more by the Sunset View staff. A sizable number sat in an overflow room.

The funeral was freighted with extra tragic resonance, since a gathering of virtually equal size came to Sunset View the day before for the funeral of 18-year-old Tyler De Martini, a former El Cerrito High student who was fatally injured when hit by a car while skateboarding on Jan. 30. The deaths of the two students cast a cloud of grief over the school.

Crowder, 17, a member of the school football team and honor-roll student, was killed around 3 a.m. Jan. 29 when he was hit by a Union Pacific freight train in Richmond, according to authorities.

Friends recalled the joy he brought to others' lives.

"Whenever someone was feeling negative, he would bring the positive in them out and make them smile," said El Cerrito High senior Gilbert Pizano, speaking after the service. "He always tried his best to help others."

A resident of Richmond, Crowder was born in Berkeley and displayed academic ability and a passion for football from an early age. At Sherman Elementary School, he was accepted into the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program. He also attended Portola Middle School and was a member of the Young Scholars Program, the Boy Scouts' Venturing Crew and the Aganza Program at El Cerrito High.

His joy in playing football began at age 7. He played different levels of Pop Warner football and all four years of high school. A slideshow at the service included several photos of him in football uniforms at various ages.

The slides also included other images, from a young boy with a winning smile to a young man sometimes laughing and sometimes pensive. One showed him with trombone, which he played for two years. He also enjoyed reading and fishing.

"Jeremy showed maturity, perseverance, and commitment to improving himself," said an obituary from the family. "He wasn't afraid of challenges, whether it be the demands of his Advanced Placement classes or going up against someone greater in size than him on the football field. One would also think twice before getting into a push-up competition with him."

Pastor Patterson quoted Crowder's mother, Leslie Johnson: "I thank God for the 17 years He gave me with my son." One page of the eight-page program is devoted to a moving message from his mother titled, "Remembering You With Gladness." (A copy of the program is attached.)

The program lists survivors as "his loving Mother Leslie Johnson and Father James Crowder Sr.; Brothers Lawrence Crowder, James "Truman" Crowder Jr., and Timothy Crowder; Sisters Kquamesha Crowder, Jonisha Saucer, Jaime Crowder, and Jaisha Crowder; Grandparents Gail and Ira Johnson, Robert Rome, Helen McBride-Crowder, and John and Erica Crowder; Great Grandparents James Gaskin Sr., and Ivy Lewis; best friend and soulmate Dashane Johnson and a host of uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, and close friends."