The north Big Horn County community and students and staff members at Lovell Middle School are mourning the loss of star athlete and model student Joseph Ward Strom, 13, who was killed in a single-vehicle rollover Saturday afternoon.

Strom had borrowed his aunt’s SUV and was driving north on the Sand Hills Road – County Road 5 – at around 1 p.m. when the crash occurred. Sheriff Ken Blackburn said the young driver lost control of the SUV, a 1999 Oldsmobile Bravada, as he came around a bend in the road. A front tire went off the road, and Strom over-corrected and went into a skid. The SUV rolled several times, ejecting Strom, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, Blackburn said.

It appears that Strom died instantly, the sheriff added. He was alone in the vehicle.

The Sheriff’s office investigated the scene of the crash with the assistance of the Wyoming Highway Patrol, and Blackburn said a lack of driving experience appeared to be a factor contributing to the crash. Alcohol use is not suspected.

“It was a terrible tragedy. Our heart goes out to the family,” Blackburn said. “I would encourage people to buckle up and be careful.”

Blackburn thanked the Lovell Volunteer Fire Dept., the North Big Horn Hospital Ambulance Service, Byron first responders and citizens who responded to help, especially Bill Welden. He also thanked Wyoming State Trooper Dan Walker, who assisted with the investigation.

Joseph Strom was the son of Andrea and Michael Frost and Charlie and Jodi Strom. For most of his life he went by Joseph Ward but recently changed his name legally to Joseph Strom. He grew up in Lovell but the family (Andrea, Mike and siblings) recently moved to Cowley.

Joseph was a seventh-grader at Lovell Middle School, where he excelled in sports and was a popular student.
LMS Principal Sherie Monk said the tragedy has touched all aspects of life at Lovell Middle School. She said a faculty meeting was held at 7:30 Monday morning to bring the staff up to date on the loss and activate counseling for distraught students.

Four extra counselors were invited in to work with school social worker Tina Billman: LHS Counselor Tawnya Teter, Bryan Mickelson, Megan Garza and Gerry Burton. The counselors responded and spent the entire day at the school, Monk said, where they were available to talk to students.

The school staff also laid out butcher paper and markers on a table near the commons so students could write messages to Joseph and his family. In two days, five large sheets had been filled with messages. Many students placed photos of Strom on their lockers.

Later in the day Monday, every person in the middle school was given a helium balloon, and students and staff members wrote messages on the balloons and sent them aloft at 3 p.m. while Joseph’s parents and other relatives looked on.

Monk and school secretary Susan McArthur recalled Strom as a wonderful athlete and an outgoing student.
“He was a fun-loving kid, with personality plus,” McArthur said.

“He was so vivacious. There was a twinkle in his eye all the time,” Monk said. “He was a good student.”

But it was far more than personality, Monk continued. He had a way with people.

“Joseph had the ability to affect everyone’s life,” she said. “They (students) all believed he was their best friend, and it wasn’t just kids from our school. We heard that kids from other schools felt they had lost one of their best friends, as well. He had an ability to draw people to him. He was very charismatic.

“It’s hard on the kids. I’m amazed at the impact he had.”
Mike and Kisha McArthur have known Joseph since he was about 6, they said, first when he was in tee ball. He is the same age as their son Calin and played on the Red Sox Little League baseball team for four years, which Mike coached. Kisha was coaching Strom on the seventh-grade basketball team this month.

“He’s been part of us for quite a while,” Kisha said Monday. “He had a good sense of humor and was talented athletically. Sports was a lot of his life. He wanted to be good. I’m sure he had aspirations to go pro.
“He had a great work ethic. When he wanted to do something, he put the time in, and not just at practice.”

“When you gave him an assignment, he took it and went with it,” added Mike, an industrial arts teacher at the middle school. “He would emulate something, then go out and practice it. If he could improve it, he would go out and make adjustments.

“He had a good rapport with fellow students. He didn’t hold a grudge. He got over things quick. He was able to make friends wherever he went.”

Strom was already a three-sport athlete and would likely have been a five-sport athlete, Mike and Kisha said. On the baseball diamond he was a fearsome homerun hitter and a dominating pitcher. He could play anywhere in the field but preferred catching, because that’s where the action was, Mike said.

On the LMS seventh-grade football team, Strom was a halfback, linebacker and kicker.

“He didn’t go half speed; it was always full speed,” Mike said. “He was very competitive. We wanted to play every down in football and every inning in baseball.”

Coach Devon Parks recalled that no one had scored against Powell this season until Strom caught about a 50-yard touchdown pass. Powell coaches were heard to say, “Oh, oh, 32’s got it.

“He was our go-to man,” Parks said. “He had one of the most athletic minds I’ve ever seen. He could play any position in any sport.”

Parks said the team and coaches signed Strom’s football jersey to be presented to his family. His basketball teammates also signed a ball that was presented to the family at Tuesday’s Greybull game.

In basketball this fall, he was a “three” guard and could play inside or out, Kisha said. She said he would have likely wrestled, as well, and gone out for track.

There was talk of canceling Tuesday’s game with Greybull and/or not playing in the conference tournament Saturday in Lovell, but during a team meeting Monday, Strom’s teammates said they wanted to play, saying Joseph would have wanted it.

The Powell team has asked if they can wear wristbands with his number 10 and the letters JWS written on them during Saturday’s conference tournament in Lovell, Kisha noted.

The LMS student council has also ordered wristbands for students.

The service for Joseph Ward Strom will be held today (Thursday) at 2 p.m. at the Lovell Middle School Gymnasium. LMS students will be dismissed from school at 12:45. A viewing was held Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Haskell Funeral Home.