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Funeral Home Owner Picks Up All Costs for Student Killed in Hit-and-Run

By Katie Honan | December 10, 2015 4:40pm
 Ovidio Jaramillo was struck and killed Tuesday near his home in East Elmhurst. 
Ovidio Jaramillo was struck and killed Tuesday near his home in East Elmhurst. 
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Courtesy St. John's Prep

JACKSON HEIGHTS — A wake will be held Saturday for the 17-year-old student killed by a hit-and-run driver on Northern Boulevard Tuesday, with the burial costs covered by the owner of a local funeral home. 

Ovidio Jaramillo was crossing at the intersection of Northern and Junction boulevards at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night when the driver of a black Toyota Camry hit him, and kept going, police said. 

The 17-year-old was returning home from the wake of a friend's grandmother in Ridgewood, friends said. 

He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

Jaramillo lived in East Elmhurst and was a junior at St. John's Prep in Astoria, where he loved sports and music. His friends said he DJed around the city, playing mostly house and EDM music. 

"He had a beautiful smile, so good. It came from within, his goodness," Vice Principal Maureen Flood said Wednesday.

Friends lit candles at a memorial at Junction and Northern boulevards, where Ovidio Jaramillo was killed. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)

His wake is scheduled for Saturday at the Gerard J. Neufeld Funeral Home at 88-04 43rd. Ave., in Elmhurst. The viewing will be from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Owner Joe Neufeld graduated from Jaramillo's high school in 1969, when it was then known as Mater Christi High School.

He's stayed active in his alumni group and has known the school's principal, William Higgins, for years.

He didn't hesitate when Higgins asked him if he could help the Jaramillo family bury their only child. 

"He asked if I can help out and I said, 'absolutely,'" he said. 

The Jaramillo family was "very grateful," and were still reeling from the sudden death of their son.

Neufeld will handle everything, from picking Jaramillo's body up from the hospital to his cremation at the All Souls Crematory at St. Michael's Cemetery in Astoria.

His funeral will be held Monday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joan of Arc Church, 82-00 35th Ave., in Jackson Heights.

The funeral home, which opened in 1940, has often pitched in to help families with wakes and burials over the years, "as many funeral homes do," Neufeld said

"I'm just trying to do the right thing," he added.