SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Judging from the outpouring of grief from the 200 or more people who attended a memorial service yesterday evening for David Wayne Aldridge II, the young Leilehua High School graduate made an impact on his teachers, friends and fellow students in the brief time they knew him.

His father, Army Staff Sgt. David Wayne Aldridge, whose family moved here from Fort Campbell, Ky., last November, may have summed it up best when he said, "I've learned that he touches everyone he sees."

Aldridge, 18, died July 18 after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle near the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa.

Yesterday, his father said he was encouraged but not surprised by the number of friends and classmates who showed up to pay their respects.

"He never met a stranger," said James Yates, Aldridge's uncle and half brother of the elder Aldridge. "If he walked into a room of a hundred people, before he left he'd know 80 of them and they'd all be his friends."

For the family, last night's service at Schofield Barracks' Main Post Chapel marked the beginning of a process of closure.

Today the body will be flown to Jeffersonville, Ind., where there will be a service Friday evening and a burial Saturday morning. Aldridge said his ex-wife and David's mother, Crystal Aldridge, will attend those services.

Maria Figueroa, a close friend and neighbor of the Aldridge family at the Helemano Military Reservation, said the youngest Aldridge child, 3-year-old Destiny, had spoken to her about her older brother, whom she called "Bubby." David Aldridge was especially fond of his little sister.

"She said, 'I'm not going to see my Bubby anymore,' " said Figueroa. "And she asked me, 'How did Bubby go into the sky? He needs a ladder.' And I just told her that the angels took Bubby to heaven."

Chaplain Joel Panzer, who knew Aldridge, spoke, as did others, about the goodness of Aldridge's character. Panzer described him as kind and caring of others, sometimes stubborn, and ever confident — even in the face of his poor grades.

"He was a real funny guy," said his friend, Leilehua senior Greg Frazier, 16. "Liked to rap a lot. Always freestyle. Crackin' jokes. Never a down moment with him."

Melody Hanson, Aldridge's guidance counselor at Leilehua High School, said he had lacked a required English credit to graduate with his class. Hanson worked closely with Aldridge to earn the credit, and on June 15 he received his diploma and his family threw him his personal graduation ceremony.

Before he left that day, Aldridge gave Hanson a card thanking her for her patience and support when others might have given up on him. Hanson traveled to Japan shortly after and didn't learn of her student's death until two days ago.

At yesterday's service, she tried to read his thank-you card, but was overcome with emotion before she could complete it.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to see him go further, because I know that this experience really helped him to grow up," she said. "And I know he would have really done something with himself after this."