A Life Cut Short

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LIFE CUT SHORT

Local teen called 'gift' to family, friends dies in collision near Shafter
BY JENNY SHEARER, Californian staff writer

e-mail: jshearer@bakersfield.com Monday, Aug 6 2007 10:10 PM

Loved ones of a teenager killed in a car crash Sunday are remembering him as someone who excelled in school and sports and was a great friend and spiritual example to others.

Photos:

Photo by PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BELLUE FAMILY
Brock Bellue, left, poses with his cousins this year.

Photo by PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BELLUE FAMILY
Brock Bellue with his father, Chris, on a family vacation in 2006.

"The world lost an angel yesterday," Courtney Tobias said Monday about her nephew Brock Christian Bellue. "He just was a gift."
Brock, 13, died in a car accident Sunday on Lerdo Highway at Magnolia Avenue near Shafter, the California Highway Patrol reported. He was riding in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle that was hit by a pickup.
The pickup's driver, Gordon D. Tutton, 60, of Wasco, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Tutton has faced prior charges of selling marijuana, drug possession and DUI, according to Kern County Superior Court records. In 1989, Tutton was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for second-degree burglary, according to court records.
The Cadillac Escalade rolled several times and Brock was ejected from the back seat. He was not wearing a seat belt, the CHP said. Everyone else in the vehicle was buckled in.
Brock's mother, Kellie Roland, was driving and suffered moderate injuries. She was being treated at Kern Medical Center.
One of Brock's friends, Jordan Root, was in the car and suffered minor injuries.
Brock was born on Feb. 1, 1994.
"Everybody loved Brock," said his grandmother, Nancy Bellue of Bakersfield. He was a soft-spoken, pleasant boy who had endured some health problems.
"Sometimes life isn't that easy, but he seems to have won the hearts of so many age groups because he was so easygoing," Bellue said.
Brock liked to play golf and shot an 88 on a course in Avila Beach during the weekend.
Bellue thinks Brock's deceased grandfather, Arnold Kirschemann, a talented golfer, must have put a golf club in Brock's bassinet.
The red-haired, blue-eyed boy with freckles attended Heritage Christian Schools since preschool.
A stellar student and multisport athlete, Brock loved the Los Angeles Lakers. Bellue has a picture of him smiling broadly while standing next to former Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal.
A school administrator said Brock lived his faith and was respected by his peers.
"He carried a great Christian heart and attitude about himself," said Kent McClain, superintendent at Heritage.
School starts Aug. 20 and McClain believes Brock's death will draw the close-knit school together.
The boy had a sweet disposition, loved ones said. Nancy Bellue said when Brock was about 3 years old, they were in the car together on a brisk sunny morning after a spring rain.
Brock looked up at the sky and said, "'Oh, the clouds have made room for the sky,'" Bellue remembered.
The boy was "elated to see all the blue breaking through the clouds," she said Monday. "Now he's up there."
Brock is survived by his father, Chris Bellue; mother Kellie Roland; stepfather Stephen Roland; siblings Steven and Reagan Roland and Gabrielle Bellue; grandparents Nancy and Bob Bellue; grandmother Joy Kirschemann; numerous aunts and uncles; and 16 cousins.
Funeral arrangements are pending.