‘Always smiling’: Friend remembers fallen Cypress Lake High student

SOUTH FORT MYERS, Fla. School was as much about mourning as it was about learning Monday for those who knew Ryan Farrell.

The Cypress Lake High School senior died Saturday, a sudden loss that ended a promising young life and shook the school community. Guidance counselors went into classrooms Monday to console grief-stricken students.

“That’s when I started tearing up, and a few of the other guys started tearing up, and it turned into less of a class,” close friend Parker Evans said.

Farrell’s life held much promise — he was a football player and track athlete drawing looks from NCAA Division III schools — and he had an easygoing demeanor, Evans recalled.

“He was a good guy, always smiling, always cracking jokes in class,” Evans said. “Never really complained about anything, always just having a good time, trying to make the best of every moment.”

Questions persist about what led to his death. Farrell may have suffered a head injury when he was involved in some sort of locker room scuffle at school last month, high-ranking sources inside several government entities said.

He continued to play football and was in and out of doctor appointments before going into a coma over the weekend, the sources said. He died Saturday night.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday it was investigating “an incident at Cypress Lake High School” but declined to elaborate further. The school told students not to talk publicly about Farrell’s death, according to Evans.

“[They] told us not to spread any rumors because that just creates more of a flame that doesn’t need to be there,” Evans said.

Farrell’s classmates continue to grieve regardless. A moment of silence was held at noon Monday, and a makeshift memorial continues to grow outside the school.

“He had a bright future ahead of him, and it’s sad that it was cut short,” Evans said.

WINK News investigative reporter Dave Culbreth constructed a video timeline of events that led up to Farrell’s death: