Willie Neal got one last firetruck parade through town.

The parade – typically reserved for high school state championship teams – was instead to honor Neal’s life, and capped off an emotional, tear-filled memorial service on Saturday at The Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole.

An overflow crowd spilled into the lobby of the church and also filled an adjacent chapel where the two-hour service was broadcast on closed-circuit television.

“When you look around this room, you see people from all socio-economic walks of life,” mother Mary Neal said. “That’s because Willie had the ability to make each of us feel loved.”

Neal, who won eight state Nordic skiing championships and served as a delegate at last August’s Democratic National Convention, died June 21 when he was struck by a car while roller-skiing in Maine. He was 19.

Family, friends, former ski coaches and town leaders choked back tears as they remembered Neal as a bright, curious young mind who loved the outdoors and worked to preserve the environment.

A five-minute taped speech from Sen. John Kerry, whose office Neal interned for this year, was played along with a slide show of pictures from Neal’s experience at the Democratic National Convention.

“Willie leaves an impressive legacy,” Friends of Pathways coordinator Brain Schilling said. “It’s up to us to bring those dreams to fruition.”

The service was a chronological journey through Neal’s life, beginning with words from Mary Neal about her son.

Scott Hirschfield, head of Jackson Hole Community School, re-read Neal’s entrance application and told how the student restructured parking there.

Friends gathered at Trail Creek Nordic Center above Wilson, where Neal trained, to conclude the day of rememberances.