Staff Writer

There was plenty of cake available when friends and family of the late Steven Delano gathered last Friday to celebrate what would have been his 19th birthday.

Some of the cake was eaten by the several dozen people who attended. Much of it ended up in hair and on clothing as a party organized by Kevin Grondin turned into a food fight near the site where Delano died in an accident May 8.

Grondin was a passenger in the car Delano was driving when it was struck by a tanker truck driven by Nathan Allen, 38, of Casco. Delano and Gorham High School students Kayla Cobb and Julia Waters were on their way to the Gorham High School prom in Portland when the collision occurred around 5:15 p.m.

Cobb and Waters were briefly hospitalized.

Grondin spent two weeks in Maine Medical Center in Portland and was unable to attend the wake and funeral services for Delano. Grondin’s mother Jo-Ellen said her son organized the birthday party instead.

“He didn’t have time to mourn,” she said.

Friday was not an easy day for Kevin Grondin, he said.

“It was tough this morning. But I got him some balloons and a cake,” he said.

His recovery from the May 8 accident continues. The feeling returning to his body can painful, he said, as shoulder problems confine his left arm to a sling and he has a ringing in his ears.

A planned enlistment in the Air Force will not happen because of her son’s hearing loss, Jo-Ellen Grondin said.

Shortly after his discharge from New England Rehabilitation in Portland last month, Kevin Grondin took the keys to his truck and drove away while his mother was upstairs getting ready to take him on errands.

Just before 9 a.m. on June 7, Grondin collided with a tanker truck on Route 1 near the Scarborough Marsh. After the accident and again last Friday, Grondin said he felt as though he had been in a dream state as he recovers from injuries to three lobes of his brain incurred in the accident that killed Delano.

Grondin has recovered well enough to drive, but said something is missing when he is behind the wheel.

“I’m not used to driving and riding without Steve,” Grondin said.

As his friends gathered to recall Delano, Audra Gordon spoke about what she has seen in Grondin’s recuperation.

“He’s back to himself, just the way we like him,” she said.

With streaks of red and blue icing in her blonde hair, 17-year-old Chelsey Michaud said the cake fight Friday afternoon was a continuation of one that began in her kitchen the night before as friends met to make a cake for Delano. Grondin, she said, was at the center of the fight.

“I have one good arm, at least I can use that,” he said.

The cake Grondin bought featured Delano’s name in the center of a Chevrolet logo and friends wore T-shirts with the logo in camouflage colors to recall Delano’s love for hunting and trucks.

Now a scene with multiple crosses, banners, plants, truck seats and T-shirts, the memorial site down an embankment from Payne Road may be dismantled a bit over the next few weeks, said Delano’s mother Cindy Delano.

“We wanted to get his birthday over,” she said, adding she would like to leave the site intact until her older son Scott has a chance to visit next month.

He is currently serving in the Army in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in a tour of duty until next March, his mother said.

Cindy Delano said she was able to visit with Grondin the day after his June accident and has noticed a change in him during his recovery.

“Steve left Kevin his gift of gab and his smile. He never used to smile like that,” she said.

Old Orchard Beach resident Nancy Lee Kelley is seeking donations for a “goody box” of personal items, snacks, cards and other items to be sent to Scott Delano. Interested donors may reach Kelley at 934-2360.

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