Craig Stille was in perfect health. He ran, lifted weights and drank protein shakes and supplements every day.
But the 20 year old Holland native collapsed and died Tuesday while he was at work at a Papa John’s Pizza in Manitowic, Wis.
“We can’t understand how something like this could happen to him,” said Joanne Stille, his mother. “Craig was like a health freak. He exercised, drank green tea and all that nutritional stuff.”
Mr. Stille had complained of heart pains and irregularities in a computer e-mail that he sent to his parents last Friday. They urged him to see a doctor, but he said in an e-mail Sunday that he was feeling better, though his heart, “still felt funny,” his mother said.
The West Ottawa High School graduate had been an Eagle Scout with Troop 43, ran track and swam for the Varsity Team. Mr. Stille was a natural athlete, his former swim coach said.
“He’s the only kid I ever had who started as a junior and qualified for the state finals with a medley team his first year,” the coach said. “I only wish he’d started swimming earlier.”
Mr. Stille moved to Wisconsin this summer to be closer to his fiancé, Fawn Groothoff. He had worked for Papa John’s in Holland and transferred as a manager to a store near Manitowic. He was in a storage room when he collapsed, his mother said.
“There was nothing they could do for him by then. It was too late.”
Craig
