Community Corner
Candlelight Vigil for Henry Treadway Draws Hundreds
Hundreds of people turned out Friday night for a memorial gathering at UC Berkeley for El Cerrito High graduate Henry Treadway, 20, a Cal student who died Tuesday at his dorm.
About 500 mourners gathered in UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza Friday night to bid a candlelit farewell to Henry Treadway, a Cal sophomore and El Cerrito High School graduate who at age 20.
It took 30 minutes to seat the long stream of people who packed into the campus multi-cultural center to share and listen to anecdotes – all touching, some hilarious – that created a picture of a gifted, funny person who bonded with others and to whom friends felt comfortable opening up.
“He was incredible – a genius, a philosopher,” a friend named Eric said, stepping to the mic. “He helped me at a difficult time in my life, and it hurts my heart that I won’t be able to do the same for him.”
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Former neighbors, teachers and Boy Scout troop leaders joined classmates, dormmates and lifelong friends. With some he had played music, with others, basketball; one he met chatting online about sneakers. Henry Treadway, it seemed, had no casual acquaintances. To meet him once was to become his friend for life.
Danny Schumacher met Treadway when they played in the school band, and they remained friends into their adulthood. Schumacher recalled a time when Treadway laughed too loudly at an inside joke during class. The teacher sent him to the principal’s office, but because Treadway had never been in trouble before, he had to come back to the class to ask for directions.
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He last saw Treadway about an hour before he died. He signed off as he always did, with an easy “all right, dude.”
UC Berkeley police said his death was an apparent suicide in a jump from his sixth-floor dorm room.
Several speakers, voices quavering, wondered why they hadn’t recognized his despair. Some urged those listening to reach out to friends on shaky emotional ground. Before sharing his own memories of Treadway, Andres Melendez asked the mourners to hug or shake the hand of someone sitting nearby.
Before the memorial began, Contra Costa Times journalist Chris Treadway, his face etched with raw grief, described how his son, born four months premature, spent the first weeks of his life in the intensive care unit.
“The happiest day of my life was the day he came home,” Treadway said.
On the memorial Facebook established in remembrance of Henry Treadway, his father posted this message before the vigil: "To everyone from Henry's family: We thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. Our loss is indescribable and right now your support means more than you can know. Please pray for Henry and us. God bless and our love to all."
An Eagle Scout and an honors student, Henry Treadway never missed a day of school from kindergarten through high school graduation at El Cerrito High. He played the clarinet. He twice took first place in the district science fair and once at the Bay Area Science Fair.
The only child of Chris and Diana Treadway, he sold Christmas wreaths in his neighborhood to raise funds for needy children, said Father Bill Edens, a staffer at the campus Newman Center, who led the gathering in a silent vigil.
“Everybody has thoughts of suicide at one time or another,” he said. “Segmented within him was this despair that no one knew about. It’s a tragedy for our whole community.”
A celebration of Henry Treadway’s life will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 3 at the El Cerrito Community Center organized by family friends.
