More than 600 mourners came to honor and remember Islander Timothy Wettack at a service held Saturday at Mercer Island High School. Wettack died Feb. 20. Friends, teachers, former coaches and mentors packed the auditorium, which ordinarily seats around 500. They came from all over, some as far as Helena, Mont. There were members of the UW lacrosse team and their coach. A group of former co-workers from the National Park Service attended. All spoke about his focus and courage; his love of the outdoors, friends and family.

Wettack died from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. He was 23.

Named after his father, Timothy Wettack graduated in 2007 from Mercer Island High School. He was a multi-sport athlete who began swimming at age 5. At 8, he played soccer on a team coached by his father, Tim Wettack, who told the crowd that neither he nor his son knew anything about the sport. They learned together.

From there the younger Wettack went on to be a leader and key part of sports teams at MIHS that included football, lacrosse and wrestling. There were injuries, disappointments, but many, many honors and successes.

Along with organized sports, Wettack and his brother Jonathan and father enjoyed hiking and backpacking and all manner of outdoor physical activities. Beyond the talk of his physical gifts, many praised his work ethic and tenacity that were applied not only to sports but to his studies. He was tapped to be a member of the National Honor Society as freshman. After high school, he attended the University of Washington, where he graduated early, in December 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Law, Societies, and Justice. He held down jobs along the way.

Sean O’Meara, a lead ranger and a former acting superintendent at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Pioneer Square, spoke of when he first met Wettack at a Mercer Island Rotary meeting. O’Meara had been invited as a guest speaker. Wettack was honored as a Rotary Student of the Month.

O’Meara was impressed with how Wettack presented himself at the meeting and what he had to say. He approached him afterward, gave him his card and told him he would like to have him come to work for the Park Service some day. Wettack did join the Park Service in an internship program as he completed his college degree.

It was a job far outside what you would imagine him doing, the ranger said.

“You should have seen him, panning for gold in the basement of the Cadillac Hotel,” he said to much laughter.

Through these difficult days, the Wettack family was supported by a group of Tim Wettack’s fellow Navy Seals. The group of five, which includes El Jahncke of Mercer Island, have remained close.

One of those Navy Seals, Tom Boyhan, said that the younger Wettack’s drive and perseverance became apparent at a early age. On an outing when Wettack was still a toddler, his parents and the Boyhans were hiking on their property in Everson, Wash. They came to a drainage ditch where a log served as a bridge. Young Timothy slipped and fell in. His mother, Connie, gathered him up to take him back for dry clothes. The little boy, muddy and wet — who did not cry when he fell — burst into tears when his mother picked him up to head back. He said no, he wanted to continue with the group. And he did.

Not long after that day, Boyhan replaced the log with a proper bridge built of railroad ties. He and his wife Janet, who do not have children of their own, christened it “Timothy Bridge” and made a sign that has stood by it ever since. It was blown over a few years ago, but was promptly rebuilt and repainted.

High school classmate and fraternity brother, Will Hansen, was Wettack’s roommate for two years while both attended the University of Washington.

Hansen admired his friend.

“He had the ability to change the entire feeling in a room,” he said.

Beyond his athletic prowess, his friend was also musically talented and was in a group creating electronic beat and dance music, he added. But there was definitely a serious side.

“He could be the life of the party, yet take on any responsibility and handle it better than anyone.”