Printed under Erik Nicoletti’s name on each pamphlet is a simple photograph of him looking up. The beautiful image is both poignant and heartbreaking for those who gathered on Jan. 22 to remember his life.
More than 100 friends and family members attended the memorial for Nicoletti, the University of Tampa junior killed by a hit-and-run driver in Nov. A slide show of pictures showing Nicoletti with friends and family played as the memorial began.
“We’re here to celebrate his life,” said Stephanie Russell Holz , associate Dean of Students.
UT Professor of Communication, Tom Garrett, spoke as a former adviser, teacher and friend. Garrett traveled with Nicoletti and a group of other UT students to the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
“This thing, I don’t know what it is but, this thing, Erik had it,” said Garrett. In Cannes, a French photographer also recognized the “thing,” and captured it in the picture of Nicoletti displayed on the pamphlet memorial.
“Remember, the brightest stars in the sky burnout first, so the next time you look at the sky tonight you’ll know why it’s a little darker,” said Lilia Nicoletti.
Five of Nicoletti’s friends also spoke at the memorial. Chelsea Wells read the poem “A Letter from Heaven.” “I almost broke down up there, I knew it would be too hard to write something on my own,” said Wells.
Mike Torti recalled the first time he and Nicoletti met. As Torti “borrowed” a table from the Vaughn courtyard on St. Patrick’s Day, Nicoletti offered to help. “That’s just the kind of kid he was,” said Torti.
James McParlton, Alyssa Salagaj and Ali Catalano also spoke of their first impressions of Nicoletti and fondest memories. When matched up as roommates during their freshman year at UT, McParlton immediately perceived Nicoletti as “laid back and down to earth.”
“It’s so funny, we didn’t read each other’s speeches first, but we all said so many similar things,” said Salagaj, who described Nicoletti as “gorgeous,e inside and out.”
McParlton, recently uncovered an unfinished screenplay written by the film major. “It was so his style, you could hear his voice in the first sentence.”
Cree Riley, who was injured in the accident that killed Nicoletti, drove from Pennsylvania to Tampa for the memorial. The slideshow of images and music played again as the ceremony ended. Riley stayed seated, mourning quietly and watching the pictures flash on the screen.
Friends and family embraced one another. In a quiet moment, Nicoletti’s mother, Dorothy, softly touched the face in the photograph and whispered “my baby.”
A scholarship for others pursuing a career in film was created in Nicolettis honor. “The Kid Stays in The Picture Scholarship” is dedicated to his love of film, and inspired by the poignant photograph of Nicoletti looking up.