'Hometown' soldier dies

Brenden Teetsell called his mother on Feb. 2 and told her how much he loved his work in the military — and a big family of his own that the 20-year-old planned.

"He said, 'Don't worry, I'll give you lots of grandchildren,'" Yuba City resident Adele Robinson recalled. "He had planned to come back and marry."

Five days later, she learned of her only son's Feb. 7 death in Mannheim, Germany. He was in his second year of serving in the U.S. Army.

An Army spokesman said the cause of death is under investigation and provided no additional details.

"He was proudest serving his country," Robinson said. "At a very early age, he had an overwhelming desire to serve God, country and community."

As a youth, Teetsell had volunteered as a junior lifeguard and rec leader with Yuba City Parks and Recreation, worked at the Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, at Woodleaf Outdoor School and with many other local groups.

"He's a hometown boy," said Stephanie Ruscigno, commander of the Disabled American Veterans chapter in Yuba-Sutter.

A celebration of Teetsell's life will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Crossroads Community Church, 445 B St., Yuba City.

Brownsville resident Robert Hechtman, 79, who directed several local plays that Teetsell had appeared in, said he'd spoken with him in December.

"He had a lot of pain," Hechtman said of a leg wound he said Teetsell sustained in Iraq. "I had the feeling it was excruciating pain."

Robinson spoke Wednesday of her son being awarded the Purple Heart, how he could take apart a computer and put it back together — and how nobody was a stranger around Brenden Andrew Teetsell.

"He's somebody who could go in a room and a few minutes later everybody knew him," she said.

When Teetsell was a freshman in 2002 at Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts, he appeared in the school's production of the play "The Boyfriend."

The 6-foot-6-inch youth was the first person to introduce himself to another member of the cast.

"I was a little iddy biddy seventh-grader," remembered Cheylene Della Maggiore, now 17 and a senior. "He was funny and very outgoing."

Wendie Marks, who directed "The Boyfriend," said Teetsell's passion for plays continued after he no longer attended the Marysville school.

"He would come back to all the performances," Marks recalled. "He loved the theater."

Teetsell's education included homeschooling. Sue Rowan, an instructor at a charter school, described him as "something of a legend in the homeschool community."

"Whenever we need to show success," Rowan wrote, "all we need do is point to Brenden."

Michael Marcoulis, who taught Teetsell, had said of him: "There isn't any subject, project or goal at hand which he could not complete. He is that talented and bright."

Brownsville resident Hechtman, an actor who appeared in TV shows, including "Murder She Wrote" and "Quincy" before retiring here, remembered giving the teen Teetsell a sleeveless jacket — complete with patch — from the Stuntmen's Association in Hollywood.

"He cherished that," Hechtman said. "Everybody loved this kid."

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com