One Year Later, Remembering Mac Surette

Published by Chris Wangler - June 23, 2020.

On June 23, 2019, Waltham High School junior Mac Surette died after being critically injured in a motorcycle crash on Main Street. He was only 17.

Mac would have graduated this year. In recent months, students, parents and teachers have made various tributes to the soft-spoken teen, including a new scholarship in his name.

The final page of the 2020 Waltham High School yearbook features a collage of images from Mac’s life. WHS mathematics teacher Jillian Sorin, the yearbook advisor, created it.

“Mac had a special place in my heart,” she said. “He was in my homeroom classroom so I was able to get to know him over the three years he was at WHS.”

“He also did work on all of my family’s cars since he was in the auto program,” Jillian added. “Not a man of many words, but his presence was very special, and his absence was felt significantly last year.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Jeannette McCarthy is working with Mac’s family and a Waltham organ donation organization to create a memorial for him.

Mac’s organs were donated after his passing, making him a hero to those awaiting donations.