There's a display board resting against the old piano in the little white house on Stuart Avenue. Every picture looks the same at first glance because the young boy in each one is smiling.

He's smiling as he plays with a baby in a kiddie pool, while standing in front of rides at Walt Disney World and while with friends at a party.

Brad Ropp, the boy's father, explains this was normal for his son.

"He loved to live life, he always had a smile on his face and he was very easy to get along with," Ropp said.

Now the house is silent, and smiles only briefly flicker across the faces of family members when they talk about John Ropp, the boy featured in all the photos.

John died a little more than a week ago when the scooter he was riding down a steep street struck a car. He was 8 years old.

John, who attended Marble Elementary School, was playing on a non-motorized scooter the evening of July 30 with a friend while his family was at home, only a few streets away.

"They have a hill by (John's friends') house that's kind of an inviting hill," Brad Ropp said.

"He rode that scooter down the hill, and by the impact that he had, I'm pretty sure he never knew what hit him or what he hit until it was right in front of him."

As John traveled northbound on Forest Street toward an intersection, a vehicle traveling west bound on Fern Street pulled out in front of him.

John struck the car, which was being driven by a 63-year-old East Lansing man who police say had the right of way and didn't see the boy coming.

"He never even caught a glance," East Lansing police Sgt. William Mitchell said of the driver. "And it's kind of a bad corner where visibility is somewhat limited for (the driver) because of the hill at the corner with shrubbery and stuff."

Brad Ropp said his family holds no ill feelings for the driver.

"I actually feel terrible for this guy, I want to let him know personally that, as the father of this child, it wasn't his fault," he said.

His son's friend ran to the house to tell Ropp what had happened.

"He told me John had been hit, and I told my daughter to grab my wife and I just ran out the door," Brad Ropp said.

"The young man took me to where he was and I could hear the ambulances in the background so I knew something bad was going on, I was just thinking, 'God I hope he's okay.'"

John's parents could not ride with their son in the ambulance on the way to the hospital because the paramedics had to do emergency work on him.

His father, a doctor, said he knew what needed to be done and he didn't want to get in their way.

Later that night at Lansing's Sparrow Hospital, John died as a result of the injuries he suffered in the accident.

Ropp said coping with his son's death will not be easy for the family.

"We're all just numb right now," Brad Ropp said. "Saying he'll be missed is an understatement."