Maxwell Silver always told people to do three things when they were upset: Take a deep breath. Show him a smile. And hug themselves.

“His heart was so big, and everyone he met he gave them no choice but to love him,” said Mary Stark, Silver’s mother. “I’ll just miss the way he loved me.”

Silver, a graduate of Cheyenne Mountain High School this spring, died Nov. 1 when he drowned in a pool at the Trimble Spa & Natural Hot Springs in Durango. The 18-year-old was a freshman at Fort Lewis College.

Authorities and school officials said Silver and six other students jumped a fence into the business about 3 a.m. La Plata County Sheriff’s Office detective Ed Phippen said the students pushed back a tarp covering a 25- by 30-foot pool to swim in it. He said six of the students, including Silver, had been drinking before they went to the hot springs.

Silver and another student were swimming laps under the tarp when they became disoriented and could not find their way back, Phippen said. The students were able to rescue one of the students, but they found Silver at the bottom of the pool.

Silver died at the scene. The La Plata County coroner ruled his death an accidental drowning.

Fort Lewis College, in a news release, said the rescued student was taken to an area hospital and was expected to recover. There were no other injuries.

Friday, family, friends and teachers of Cheyenne Mountain High School attended Silver’s funeral at Woodmen Valley Chapel. Stark and Silver’s stepfather, Randy Stark, said more than 1,000 people paid their respects to him.

“The people there, they just loved him,” Mary Stark said, while sitting on Silver’s bed in her Colorado Springs home. A large stuffed gorilla with a red bow tie lay next to her. “He was adopted by other families, and he went to so many places: Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas. The families even took him along to visit colleges.”

Silver excelled at writing at Fort Lewis College, Stark said, and his teachers said he was a talented poet.

“He just found his passion of writing this semester,” Stark said.

Pictures in a large black scrapbook showed Silver, smiling or sticking his tongue out at the camera. Stark pointed out humorous notes that he would write to her when he was a child. “I love you momma like (a) fat boy like cake,” said one note. Another said, “Momma, I love you more than life itself. . . Signed your eldest.”

The scrapbook also contained pictures, medals and cards when Silver was a swimmer and ran cross-country. His parents said he loved to swim. He also had an eclectic taste in music including Bob Marley, Tom Petty and James Taylor.

“His hair was always disheveled. He never owned a comb. He went to ARC to buy his T-shirts and pants,” Randy Stark said. “It took me a while to realize, but he had his own style.”