Chris was a person who i could go to with my problems , someone who would just do stupid stuff to make me laugh and everyone else. He was a good guy and will be missed by many. Chris showed me a long time ago that there is a different way of life than being what everyone else wants you to be. Not wearing the most expenses clothes , or listening to the trend music at the time. Its being who you want to be not letting anyone else change that. Chris didnt care what people thought , he did what he wanted. Thats who i am because of Chris who showed me the way and the man you know today. He lived his life to the fullest. He had everything , a great girlfriend , family , bestfriends , and was living a dream. I looked up to Chris and i hope to follow in his footsteps being the way he was.

 

A 17-year-old Warren man who his girlfriend said "lived life to the fullest" was killed Wednesday in a Jet Ski accident on a lake near Traverse City.

Chris Cattaneo, who would be entering his senior year at Warren Woods Tower High School, died while pulling a prank on his girlfriend, Nicole Angott, and his sister, Rebecca, 14. He used his Jet Ski to splash water on the girls, who were on another Jet Ski, lost control and crashed into their watercraft. "He was joking around with us," said Angott, 18, of Warren. "He was trying to splash us and he spun out of control and hit us. He was going too fast. "It happened so fast he didn't suffer." The 2:20 p.m. incident occurred on Lake Bellaire, north of Traverse City. Cattaneo and his watercraft struck the one piloted by Angott. He suffered head and chest injuries, and died instantly or quickly afterward, said Antrim County Undersheriff Daniel Bean. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Kalkaska Memorial Hospital. A boater saw the girls waving their hands and pulled them and Cattaneo into his boat, Bean said. Rescue personnel tried to revive him on shore. Angott and Rebecca Cattaneo suffered minor leg injuries, Bean said. The Cattaneo family, including parents Debbie and Mike, was vacationing for the week at a condominium at Shanty Creek on the lake. He is also survived by a brother, Brian. Angott said Chris Cattaneo died "doing something he loved." "He did everything all the way," she said. "He loved the outdoors. He snowmobiled and loved the water. He knew he would die on the water someday." Cattaneo played guitar in a band called Bidwell, which recorded a CD. He also played football in ninth and 10th grades. "Everybody loved him," Angott said. "He didn't have any enemies." Angott and Cattaneo met at the high school. "I really loved him," she said. "We were going to get married."