* Preston J. Hedgepeth; 6th-Grader Appeared in ‘E.R.’ and ‘NYPD Blue’

Preston Jermane Hedgepeth, an Oxnard sixth-grader who played bit parts on the television shows “E.R.” and “NYPD Blue,” died recently from a severe asthma attack.

Preston died Friday at Ventura County Medical Center, the same hospital where he was born, two days after his 12th birthday.

An avid collector of basketball trading cards, Preston loved the sport and had been excited recently when his asthma symptoms seemed sufficiently in remission to allow him to join a basketball league, said his mother, Carolyn Hedgepeth.

Preston sold $400 worth of chocolate during an April school fund-raiser, which earned him the top prize of four free tickets to Disneyland.

His mother said he had looked forward to going there this weekend.

Preston played an ill child on an episode last fall of “E.R.” But that experience and his role as a young Indian boy whose mother was strangled on “NYPD Blue” boosted his self-confidence, his mother said.

“The actors treated him so well,” Hedgepeth said. “He really had a wonderful time doing the shows.”

Preston liked to participate in karate, football and swimming, although there were times during his 10-year battle with asthma when his attacks came as often as every night, forcing him to curtail such activities. He made frequent visits to the emergency room, his mother said.

Preston aspired to be a basketball star like his hero Michael Jordan, but barring that, he wanted to be a super-salesman and earn lots of money, Hedgepeth said.

“He loved to buy things for his friends,” she said.

On Tuesday, when his father, Melvin, and mother visited their son’s classroom to collect his things, it was his classmates’ turn to leave a gift for Preston.

His desk was covered with geraniums and chrysanthemums.

In addition to his parents, Preston is survived by a younger brother, Jordan, and a younger sister, Saraina; and grandparents Tamara and Al Harper of Conway, Ark., and Charles Hedgepeth and Lourdes and Ricardo Casas, all of Oxnard.

Memorial services for Preston will be held at 8 p.m. Friday at Santa Clara Church. Services will be preceded by a “birthday celebration” for Preston at his parents’ home.

A Mass will be said at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Santa Clara Church. Donations can be made to: Camp Time Away, c/o Dr. Landon, 3400 Loma Vista Road, Ventura 93003. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard.

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Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by mortuaries.