Town Bids Adieu to ‘Real Sweetheart’ : Fillmore: Two members of the Marine Corps are among those paying their respects. James Anderson had been scheduled to report to boot camp in August.

James Anderson, remembered as “the kid with the glasses” and a “real sweetheart,” was buried Wednesday in a country cemetery.

The grave site in rural Bardsdale is within walking distance of the home that Anderson shared with his parents, three brothers and three sisters.

It’s just across the Santa Clara River from Fillmore, where Anderson graduated from high school last Thursday.

And it’s only a few miles from the curve where, a few hours later, a man suspected of drunk driving lost control of his car and smashed into a pole, killing Anderson, who was riding in the front seat.

In Fillmore, life unfolds in a small circle, and when it ends suddenly, as it did for 18-year-old Jimmy Anderson, the whole town mourns.

“This community is close-knit. It’s like going back into the ‘60s,” said Suzette Jordan, a receptionist at the Skillin-Carroll Mortuary who was still getting inquiries Wednesday morning about Anderson’s funeral.

“The phone was driving me nuts until the arrangements were made,” Jordan said.

She said lots of people knew Jimmy Anderson, partly because of the glasses he had worn since age 2, partly because he was always working at some odd job, such as packing groceries at Central Market, cleaning houses or baby-sitting.

While Jordan took phone calls, Virginia Mickelson, Anderson’s art teacher at Fillmore Senior High School across the street, stopped by the mortuary on her way to the funeral. She had postponed an airplane trip to attend.

“He had a hard time with school, but he was a real sweetheart,” Mickelson said. “Everybody liked him. He was kind of reserved but always had this nice smile.”

Several Fillmore High teachers and dozens of students were among the more than 200 mourners who packed into the funeral at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Two representatives of the Marine Corps also paid their respects. Anderson had enlisted in the Marines last fall and was scheduled to report to boot camp in August.

Atop the closed casket was Anderson’s graduation photo, in which he struck a serious pose that did not include the customary eyeglasses.

Bishop Michael Burnett said the family favored no particular charity but suggested Students Against Driving Drunk to those wishing to contribute in Jimmy’s name. The only other reference to alcohol came during the opening prayer by Anderson’s older brother, Alan.

“I hope,” he said, pausing several times, “that everyone in the world realizes that alcohol is an addiction, and it’s very bad.”

Justin Neff, 20, the man arrested after the accident on suspicion of drunk driving, has two prior drunk-driving convictions, one of which came only two days before the crash. He was in guarded condition Wednesday at the Ventura County Medical Center, where he is being treated for internal injuries.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said the agency is still interviewing witnesses who were with Neff before the accident. When the investigation is completed, the district attorney’s office will decide whether to charge Neff with manslaughter.

Friends said Neff was giving Anderson a ride home from a post-graduation party when the accident occurred.

Mickelson remembered seeing Anderson among the 156 graduates at commencement last Thursday.

“It was uncanny,” the art teacher said, recalling a speech in which class President Gloria Conejo mentioned the sudden deaths of five other Fillmore High students during the school year.

“We must live our lives to the fullest every day,” Conejo had said. “We never know if tomorrow may ever come.”

Martin Farrell, publisher of the weekly Fillmore Gazette, recalled the same five deaths in a column on June 8, a week before the accident.

Noting “the extra exuberance of our high school students” as graduation neared, Farrell mused: “I wonder how many of our students will heed the warnings they will receive about drinking and driving.

“I wish I could speak to our seniors individually,” Farrell wrote. “I would say that we would all like to see them again, after graduation, alive and healthy.

“Would they listen, or laugh it off?”

There wasn’t much laughter in Fillmore on Wednesday. But tears flowed freely.