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Separated by years, Tai Lam and Andrew Helgeson never met during their time at Montgomery Blair High School. But memories of the students can be seen and heard throughout Silver Spring and beyond.

Helgeson died of apparent sudden cardiac arrest in 2005, just days before his scheduled graduation from Montgomery Blair High School; Lam, a freshman at Blair at the time of his death, was shot and killed Nov. 1, 2008, on a county bus after an argument with reputed gang members. Helgeson was raised Jewish in a quiet neighborhood near Northwest Branch Park; Lam, who was Vietnamese, grew up in the tough Quebec Terrace area of Long Branch.

Both were honored Saturday at events that perpetuate the legacies the two teens left behind – for Helgeson a memorial lacrosse game, for Lam, a memorial chess tournament.

While the community responses to both deaths had vastly different ramifications, those who knew the two teenagers say both those legacies derive from the same trait: a loving, generous personality.

"If I was having a bad day, I would go to [Helgeson] and I was guaranteed to have a smile on my face," Lena Moreno, a Silver Spring resident and friend, said at the fourth-annual R. Andrew Helgeson Memorial Blair Lacrosse Alumni Game held at the high school. Moreno has a tattoo on her back with the initials "R.A.H." in honor of Helgeson.

Fernando Moreno, Tai Lam's chess teacher at Oak View Elementary School in Silver Spring, said the 14-year-old Lam also had a gift of making others feel at ease.

"He was always very open, always smiling and having fun," said Moreno – no relation to Lena –at the chess tournament in downtown Silver Spring. "He was only in ninth grade and everybody knew him."

While the two teens remain in the thoughts of their loved ones, those thoughts have evolved into action.

In the hallways of any Maryland high school there are defibrillators used for resuscitating victims of heart failure. It's a result of "Andrew's Law," passed in 2006 by the Maryland General Assembly after the urging of Richard and Rita Helgeson. In 2008, the Helgesons helped pass a law that gives civilians who attempt to resuscitate someone using defibrillators immunity from civil liability.

This year, the Helgesons pushed a bill that would eliminate civil liability except in cases of gross negligence for facilities that make automatic external defibrillators available. The state Senate did not vote on the bill before the close of this year's General Assembly, but the Helgesons said they will try again next year.

"They are a representation of Andrew here and now," Richard Helgeson said of the laws, adding that they promote the type of goodwill that Andrew practiced.

The chess tournament drew 64 youth competitors and is part of the county's new grassroots chess movement "All the Right Moves," started in memory of Lam by Moreno and state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park.

Shortly after Lam's death, a group of teens called Mixed Unity formed to prevent youth violence. The group now includes nearly 100 students of varied races from middle school to college.

Mixed Unity has organized an anti-violence concert that drew 7,000 people, participated in last month's Safe Silver Spring Summit and meets regularly with community organizations. The strength of such a group is a testament to Lam's personality and the impact of his shocking death, said Adam Ndiaye, a sophomore at Blair and member of Mixed Unity.

"There was violence already but Tai's death just magnified it," Ndiaye, a close friend of Lam's brother Cao, said Saturday at the Gandhi Brigade's downtown Silver Spring office. "… It really changed [people], especially the people that knew him."

Friends of Helgeson and Lam said their personalities and behavior positively affected others and forged legacies that will live on indefinitely.

"We don't really see a lot of violence in school," said Raskin's son Tommy, an eighth-grader at Eastern Middle School who knew Lam. "To see that someone actually shot someone, I know it's more real."

One of Helgeson's best friends, Burtonsville resident Andrew Beach, said Helgeson's willingness to play lacrosse goalie, the most selfless position in the game, was an example of his strong character. Beach said he is still saddened by certain memories of Helgeson and strengthened by others. Beach still remembers how Helgeson wrote "we'll see each other next week" in Beach's yearbook just days before he died but fondly recalled the times when the 6-foot-5-inch Helgeson would spontaneously lift him up in the air.

"He was a very affectionate person," Beach said. "When people are affectionate to me it reminds me of him."

A stone memorial with Helgeson's face on it lies at Blair's football stadium where the lacrosse team plays and his No. 9 jersey has been retired. Lena Moreno plans to make a documentary on his life and sudden cardiac arrest at her arts college in San Francisco.

At Lam's favorite hangout, Ellsworth Drive, there is a light pole covered with inscriptions in felt marker. While most express their love for Lam, one has the simple message "Live in Peace," a forward-looking directive in hopes that a similar death can be avoided.

Those close to Helgeson and Lam likely never crossed paths, but even Helgeson's mother, Rita, sees the parallels between the two.

"It's almost like the cream of the crop are losing their lives and I don't understand why," Rita Helgeson said through tears. "It's not fair."