Campus remembers former student
Christopher Wallace dressed as Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ this past Halloween. He had everything from the blue and white checkered skirt to the Judy Garland wig, and finished the night singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ in full costume at a local bar.
It took him hours to glue red sequins onto a pair of shoes that fit his large feet, said Terri Evans, a senior environmental policy major, his friend of more than three years. Along with the ruby-red slippers, he completed the ensemble by shaving his legs, donning blue eye shadow and carrying a plush dog in a basket as Toto.
‘He really put everything he had into everything he did,’ Evans said. ‘He just really wanted to have a good time and make sure everyone around him was having fun.’
Wallace, a former student at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, died Thursday at his home in Syracuse, The Daily Orange reported Monday.
Police ruled the death a suicide, said Sgt. Tom Connellan of the Syracuse Police Department. Wallace, 33, of Rochester, N.Y., attended ESF through last semester. He was taking time off to deal with personal problems, Evans said.
Wallace was known for his genuine kindness and a desire to help whoever he could, friends said.
He would host a ‘girl’s night,’ as Evans put it, at his house every Thursday. She and two other friends, Leslie Teagarden and Ashley Kessler, would come over, watch chick flicks, and eat Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate cake from Wegmans.
Teagarden, an ESF senior, smiled when she remembered Wallace text messaging her about just purchasing ‘Sex and the City’ or ’50 First Dates,’ and telling her to come over that night.
But going to the house meant more than just seeing movies. Wallace was never shy about helping the girls with problems, Teagarden said.
For Evans, it was nice to have a male perspective on things.
‘I really respected his experience and his wisdom,’ Evans said. ‘It was great to come to him with my problems just because I knew how much he really cared about me.’
He would frequently give his change to a homeless man on Marshall Street or to the men who stand under the Interstate 81 overpass, Evans said. He returned home to Rochester every Friday. There, he helped care for a disabled man named Howie.
He only stayed in Syracuse on the weekends, when something important came up. Like when Teagarden asked him to stick around for Valentine’s Day weekend, so they could have a single’s day and spend time together.
Evans also remembers that kindness.
‘He had a huge heart. He had a huge heart and a lot of love to give, and he did,’ Evans said. ‘I don’t think I ever saw him be mean to anyone on purpose.’
Wallace, a conservation biology major at ESF, didn’t know for sure what he wanted to do after graduation, Kessler said. She said he would have tried to save the world if he had the chance.
‘A lot of people think of ESF and they think of Chris,’ said Kessler, a December 2008 alumna. ‘Because he was always on campus, he participated in a lot of the activities and he always said hi to everyone. He was one of those faces you think of when you think ESF.’
Wallace took a course dealing with solving the problems with conservation biology. The professor of the class, James Gibbs, remembers Wallace being full of energy, ideas and life.
‘He was much liked and appreciated by the entire class,’ Gibbs said. ‘I was very impressed with how Chris brought everything up a notch. He was incredibly engaged and interested in everything. The intensity he brought was very, very refreshing.’
He had a tattoo of wolves on his upper right arm, Kessler said. Wallace considered his group of close friends – Kessler, Evans and Teagarden – a wolf pack.
‘Boy, when we got together it was memorable,’ remembers Kessler, who saw Wallace the day before he died. ‘I thought I was going to see him the next day.’
Published on February 23, 2009 at 12:00 pm
