tetreault

Friends yesterday remembered a former North Kingstown cheerleader who died in a head-on collision early Sunday as “a wicked good person” and someone who always put her friends and family before herself.

Laura M. Tetreault, 19, of North Kingstown, was heading to MGM Grand at Foxwoods, where she worked as a blackjack dealer, on Route 2 in North Stonington, Conn., at about 4:30 a.m. when the 1997 Saturn she was driving crossed the yellow lane divider and struck a 1997 BMW driven by Delano O. Esannason, of New York City, according to the Connecticut State Police.

Tetreault “sustained fatal injuries,” Trooper Mark Roberts reported. The driver and a passenger in the BMW were taken to William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich with minor injuries, Roberts said.

The airbags of both vehicles deployed, the police said. Both occupants of the BMW were wearing shoulder and lap restraints, but Tetreault was not.

“It’s a horrible thing it had to be her,” said Jessica L. Silvia, 19, who lived near Tetreault on Asqah Drive and was a classmate from middle school to their 2006 graduation.

“Even though the world loses people every second of the day, this girl was a young, vibrant, kind-hearted woman, and the world will not be the same without her,” Silvia said yesterday.

Silvia’s mother, Kim Smith, said Tetreault’s older sister was in the hospital having a baby a day or two before the accident. Smith opened her daughter’s yearbook to Laura Tetreault’s photo. For her hero, she listed “mom” and for her plans after high school, she wrote: “go to medical school.”

“She was always trying to get something accomplished,” her friend Silvia said, such as saving money for college. “She also cared. She babysat her boyfriend’s two kids.”

Silvia said that the quote on her friend’s MySpace page, which shows it was last updated on Saturday, is:

“You only get to live once, so do it the right way.”

Did her friend follow those words?

“Yeah, she definitely did,” Silvia said. “She made her life worthwhile.”

Joshua Raymond, 19, who called Tetreault a “wicked good person” described their friendship as “more like a brother/sister relationship,” said Tetreault worked hard for everything she wanted.

“She wanted more in life,” Silvia added. “Last time I talked to her, at Josh’s house, I asked her, ‘So what are you doing with [your] life?’ ” Working, Tetreault answered. Don’t wear yourself out, Silvia remembers saying, and her friend responded:

“Sometimes you have to wear yourself out if you want more in life.”

Raymond said Tetreault loved her job. She started training in May and was “actually behind the tables in late May or early June. She loved that job.”

The last time he saw her was about two weeks ago, when he was going through a rough time. She was “always there to talk to you, always willing to help,” he said. She helped him by “just giving me advice. I always take her advice.”

“I hope everybody remembers her,” he said yesterday. “And keep a smile on your face, because that’s what she would want.”

dnaylor@projo.com