Staff Writer

Ask any of his friends and family what they remember most about Steven M. Delano, and the answer is always his smile.

As news of Delano’s death Sunday after a Saturday evening traffic accident spread through the area, friends he made through his 18 years poured out memories on websites, roadside memorials and the high school parking lot.

“He just had an awesome smile, and beautiful blond hair. He was quite a jokester, and extremely tender with children,” said Cindy Delano, Steven’s mother.

Steven Delano was on his way to the Gorham High School prom in Portland with his best friend, Kevin Grondin, and their dates when the accident occurred at about 5:25 p.m.

Police say Delano was pulling into the intersection of Payne and Holmes roads when the 2006 Pontiac G-6 owned by his brother, Scott Delano, was struck by a tanker truck driven by Nathan Allen, 38, of Casco.

Allen was driving east on Payne Road toward the Maine Mall when the tanker struck Delano’s car. The impact pushed Delano’s car up Payne Road before it went down an embankment and landed on its roof, police said.

Delano, Grondin and their dates, not been identified by police, were taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Allen was uninjured in the accident. Blood samples of both drivers were taken for analysis, but Rouse said there is no indication of drug or alcohol use contributed to the accident.

Scarborough Police Sgt. Rick Rouse said the accident, which closed the intersection and Payne Road for more than six hours, remained under investigation by local police and Maine State Police commercial vehicle enforcement and accident reconstruction teams as of Wednesday morning.

Rouse said it is uncertain which driver had the green light when Delano’s car was struck, or how fast Allen was driving when the car and truck collided.

The accident site became an impromptu memorial for Delano by Monday, as scores of Scarborough students converged to leave mementos and messages on crosses, sheets and bandanas.

Delano was also memorialized with a Facebook page and spray-painted messages on concrete barriers and in the parking lot at the high school. Graduating seniors will wear pins of camouflage material in his memory and Scarborough High School Principal Pat Conant said the school will have a “camo and flannel” day to honor Delano.

“There was never a dull moment with him,” senior Ashley Morse said as she looked over the roadside memorial Monday afternoon.

Later that evening, Delano’s closest friends gathered at the family home to select photos to display at visiting hours today and share their memories.

Senior Kayla Cobb said she recalled Delano’s vibrant sense of humor. He lived for small jokes, like tossing small items into others’ shopping carts to see if they would pay for them.

“I could not walk past him without a hug,” Cobb said about life at school with Delano.

Delano also took building trades courses at the Westbrook Regional Vocational Tech Center as a student at Scarborough High School. He worked at the Hannaford Bros. store in Scarborough and was an on-call member of Scarborough Fire Department Engine 7, based at Oak Hill.

Mostly, he was irrepressible, friends said. He and Grondin were a matched pair since they were about 5 years old.

“It was never ‘Where’s Steve?’ or ‘Where’s Kevin?’ It was always ‘Where’s Steve and Kevin?’” Cobb said.

Michelle Spiller, a friend of the family, said Delano exemplified the Waylon Jennings theme song to “The Dukes of Hazzard” – “Just a good ol’ boy, never meanin’ no harm.”

Delano’s first love was the outdoors, and he was an avid hunter and fisherman who treasured his time at the family cabin in Byron, his mother said.

He also loved his four-wheel-drive Chevrolet pickup truck, and was recalled for the way he leaned out the window as he drove down the street. Friends have incorporated a likeness of the Chevy logo on memorial T-shirts to raise money for Project Graduation, the Scarborough Fire Department and the New England Organ Bank. As a donor, Delano’s vital organs were transplanted to help others, his mother said.

The memorial shirts are expected to be ready for sale later this month, said senior Shelby Dahms.

Grondin remained in Maine Medical Center Wednesday after suffering facial trauma, but his mother, Jo-Ellen Grondin, said chances for a full recovery are good. Plans for him to begin Air Force training next month are on hold, but have not been fully ruled out, she said.

As one family mourns and another hopes for recovery, Cindy Delano and Jo-Ellen Grondin said it is also hard to express the depth of their gratitude to the friends of their sons.

“These kids are a tight group and they have been awesome,” Grondin said. ‘They are phenomenal and have kept us together.”

Steven Delano is survived by his parents, Cindy and Mark Delano, and an older brother, Scott Delano, who is serving in Afghanistan with the Army but returned to attend services for his brother. He is also survived by his grandparents, Richard and Virginia Cobb, and Jean Delano of Scarborough; great-grandmother, Jeannette Sicard of Scarborough; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

Visiting hours for Delano will be 6 to 9 p.m. today at Conroy-Tully Funeral Home, 1024 Broadway in South Portland.

Funeral services will 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church on Black Point Road. A graveside service will be Tuesday, May 11.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219.