the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, we are sad to announce the passing of Preston Walker Stott 18 of Ridgewood on October 3, 2023 .Preston was a senior at Ridgewood High School and a member of the Football team .
Visitation will be held on Friday, October 6th 2023 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM and from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the Feeney Funeral Home (232 Franklin Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450). A funeral service will be held on Saturday, October 7th 2023 at 10:30 AM at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel RC Church (1 Passaic St, Ridgewood, NJ 07450).
this is very sad , the school did a good job of keeping this quiet, but people need a chance to grieve
Let’s state that it was suicide and how we can help kids.
He graduated last year. Not a current senior . Regardless prayers to his family and friends on this senseless tragedy. RHS should have meetings (senior focus , freshmen focus etc ) and talk to the kids about this and about mental health !
How he passed… just days ago really…. isn’t the point..is it? Most of a whole town is in mourning as we all know someone who knows him or his extended family….grieve with me. Please.
Just because one person has demons does not mean you need to impose “meetings” on all of the other kids. All you will do is get the insecure ones to identify and in the end all of your good intentions will just cause more tragedy. Much better to be aware and deal with troubled kids on an individual basis. “group meetings” are at best ineffective and at worst damaging, but the are good for CYA, checking boxes and feeling good about yourself for “doing something to help”
Alternately, we can give the family privacy, you gossiping ghouls.
Shame on the Blog for posting these comments.
No one is violating the family’s privacy. Is the public online obituary a violation of privacy? Is someone being forced to read these comments at gunpoint?
It’s perfectly reasonable for people to wonder why a seemingly well-adjusted, certainly privileged young man with a charming upbringing and a life of opportunity before him would abruptly return home from college and then allegedly take his own life.
Nowhere in the obituary is written cause of death. The announcement of death isn’t the issue, it’s the tragic circumstances.
Once again, this blog and its commenters show their utter lack of maturity and decency.
keep posing your not fooling anybody
Your entire second paragraph indeed exposes further your own horror. I fear living in a town with you. Can we give the family a goddamn week maybe to try to get out of the shock. Much of this town is in mourning. Jesus!
much of the town?
Privileged… far from it
sounds like you are more concerned with your own image than the tragic death of a young man ?
Unfair.
Murder is a matter of legitimate public interest, whether of one’s own self, or of another. This business about keeping it a secret is deranged.
The schools and town is doing a great job at keeping this tragic young suicide quiet. Imagine Ridgewood took action against the bullying here, this is not the first young suicide in our town. Devastating.
Was it because of bullying!
Very sad.
My heart and prayers goes out to this young man and his family at this time.
The blog is not at fault here. Everyone is grieving, even those who did not know him. It is a tragic loss for all of us. His suicide is not a secret that was revealed here. Teens all over town in tea shops and sandwich shops are speaking of it. Parents are likewise talking and worrying. It should not be secretly whispered about. People are pulling together and grieving together.
everyone is grieving?
what was he doing after HS was he ill
My heart goes out to his family there is no other grief as terrible as loosing a child. Was he ill, was he at school, were there any signs. Schools and parents need to know there is help for the mentally ill.RIP lovely young man
I lost my son that is why I understand fully what his parents are going through wish I could help them I never would have posted on this platform but just saw this and my heart hurts along with theirs.
So very sorry for the terrible loss to his family and friends. Was he attending school, he was ill and not in school or working signs of being suicidal are evident. He needed help.
It is hard not to be reminded of dark days in early December forty-five years ago when a junior athlete at RHS hung himself, followed by another youngster doing the same a few days later. Teen suicide is nothing new in town but each time it happens it’s a punch in the gut, especially if you grew up here and are one among many in multiple generations who’ve counted that as a major blessing. Such a shame for the young man, his family and those others whom he touched.