LIME RIDGE - Last Thursday, on the night before his death in a car crash, 16-year-old Erik Fichtel was photographed at football practice in his Weston High School uniform during the annual fall ritual of team photos.

Tuesday at the boy's funeral, his father, Tim Fichtel, wore a large button on his breast pocket with one of the photos of his son taken that night.

MPS Photography in Reedsburg rushed the processing of the photos so the family would have them Tuesday - one small example of the outpouring of kindness, Tim Fichtel said.

"What's getting us through this right now is the support from our family and friends, obviously, but also from the entire community," Fichtel said. "It's really quite overwhelming."

Hundreds of mourners spilled into the basement and onto the courtyard of St. Boniface Catholic Church on Tuesday for Erik's funeral, the first of two in the Weston Schools community this week. Principal John Klang, shot to death by a student Friday, will be buried today.

The two died Friday in unrelated tragedies - Erik when he lost control of his vehicle and missed a curve on his way to school, Klang when he wrestled with a student who brought guns into the school.

Eric Hainstock, 15, a freshman at Weston High School near Cazenovia, has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Klang's death. He is being held on a $750,000 cash bond at the Sauk County Jail.

Tuesday, Erik Fichtel, a Weston High junior, was remembered as a football player - he played split end and defensive end - an honor student, a big brother to Patrick Fichtel, 12, and as an officer in the school's chapter of Future Farmers of America. He hoped to study agronomy in college, then farm.

His father estimated that more than 800 people attended Erik's visitation Monday.

"Look at the people who turned out last night and today," Tim Fichtel said after his son's funeral. "It really lifts your spirits that so many people care."

Erik's classmates erected a roadside memorial at the crash site, where a Superman logo decorated a green cross with Erik's name on it. Tim Fichtel said he was touched by the classmates' efforts. He heard the students contacted the property owner and asked permission before placing the cross on the land.

"That's the kind of respect kids have for people here," he said.

As the Fichtels grieved for their son, they also mourned for a school community they are very much a part of. Tim Fichtel is a member of the Weston School Board. His wife, Bobbi, is an assistant in the school cafeteria.

Tuesday evening, many of the same mourners drove to nearby Reedsburg for Klang's visitation. Minutes after the visitation began at 4 p.m., more than 200 people stood in a line outside Farber Funeral Home.

Tom Beattie, executive director of the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators, organized a busload of principals to attend the visitation. The organization was expecting 80 or so principals to travel to Reedsburg.

Meanwhile, many community members spent part of Tuesday preparing for Klang's funeral, which will be at 11 a.m. today at Weston High School.

Roderick Baker, a retired General Motors engineer from Cazenovia, said he and his wife, Mary, were making deviled eggs and baking cookies to help feed mourners.

The couple attend St. Anthony Catholic Church in Cazenovia, where Klang also was a member. The loss of a principal in a small community hits hard, Roderick Baker said.

"People need to understand that the moral fabric that holds a community together is the school and the church," he said. "The priest and the principal - that's your leadership. Those are the two most important people."

State Journal reporter Dee J. Hall contributed to this story.