Zachary “Zac” Hartwell was buried yesterday, after being killed early Monday morning when a speeding car driven by his friend, reality TV star Ryan Dunn, crashed on Route 322 near Pottstown Pike in West Goshen.
The standing-room-only crowd inside DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home on the 400 block of North Church Street listened as some of Hartwell’s close relatives recounted stories about the six-year Navy veteran.
Hartwell had served as a gunner’s mate during Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq and was deployed only hours after watching the Twin Towers fall in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, his relatives said.
“Like his dad and all four of his brothers and one sister, he was proud to wear a uniform,” said the Rev. Dick Taylor, one of Hartwell’s close friends and childhood neighbors. “I saw Zac grow up to become a man.”
Hartwell was born in Lima and grew up in Coatesville as the fifth of his eight siblings, his brother Benjamin Hartwell said.
Family members described Hartwell as “the life of the party,” “a wise-cracker” and “a genuine, good listener.”
He was also described by some of his siblings as “the crazy, favorite uncle” of his many nieces and nephews.
