Dane Bonang bought his mother a blue hydrangea for Mother's Day this year, but he never got a chance to sign the card that went with it. The 26-year-old Wiscasset man died in a car accident on May 11.

“Family was so important to him,” said his mother, Mary Bonang. He even got a tattoo that said “Bonang” on his arm.

“When you looked at his face you could see his personality,” said his cousin, Beckie Alexander. “He was loyal and kind.”

“Everyone that came in contact with him stuck to him like glue,” his father Allan Bonang said. “He didn’t pass judgment on anyone. He treated everyone the same.”

His mother said she thinks it was his Native American roots that gave him a love of the outdoors. She said her son loved to camp, fish and swim. “One time all four of us were on a boat on Biscay Pond and Dane was the only one reeling in the fish,” she said. “We called him the Bass Master.”

His friends are planning to hold an annual fishing derby on Biscay Pond in his memory.

Bonang was an average student who loved school. While attending Wiscasset High, he was enrolled in the auto repair program at the Bath Regional Vocational Center.

After graduating from WHS in 2005, he attended Central Maine Community College to study automobile technology. He was a good mechanic and became the go-to guy when friends and family needed cars worked on, his family said.

When a friend of Allan Bonang's offered him a truck that needed rebuilding, he said it needed too much work and he didn’t want to get into it.  

The elder Bonang got a call from the same friend days later. He told Allan Bonang he was getting that old truck anyway because he just gave it to his son Dane. It would be arriving at the house anytime. “Oh thanks,” Allan Bonang said.

The truck, a 1994 Ford F250, is about halfway complete, but Allan Bonang said that he will get it finished and use it for winters.

Dane Bonang's friend Mike Snyder described him as a Ford man. “But I didn't hold that against him,” he said.

Snyder was riding with Bonang on May 11, but survived the accident. “I have known Dane since seventh or eighth grade; and I have never known him to have an enemy,” Snyder said. “Dane was a nice guy.”

Bonang's only sibling, Stephen, said he was very close to his brother. “We didn’t fight much, but we did do some stupid stuff.”

When the brothers were teenagers, a wrestling match ensued and Dane put his head through the wall, Stephen Bonang said.

The two of them repaired the wall before their parents came home. Another time, Stephen Bonang said they were playing golf in the house and put a club through the ceiling.

“Then there were the BB gun wars,” Stehpen Bonang said.

Mary Bonang said her son loved to tell jokes, be silly and eat. He loved his mother’s smoked ribs. The family will celebrate his love for food by getting together for a big breakfast Sunday morning, while enjoying one of his favorites, pancakes.

Some will remember him as “Great Dane,” but those close to him say he was just a “Teddy Bear,” and he will be remembered for his kindheartedness, his hugs and his smile.

A celebration of his life is planned for Sunday, May 19 at 1 p.m. at Wiscasset High School, Gardiner Road, Wiscasset.