RaeLyn Clark called it “10 days of pure hell.”

That’s how long it took from the time she first found out her son – Western Washington University freshman Dwight Clark – was missing, until she was informed her 18-year-old boy was dead.

The U.S. Coast Guard pulled Dwight’s body out of Bellingham Bay on Oct. 6. The teenager, an Auburn High School graduate, was first reported missing on Sept. 26 when he failed to return to his dorm room after attending an off-campus party just blocks away.

Last Saturday at a memorial held at Brannan Skate Park, Clark thanked all of the people who chipped in during the exhaustive search for her son’s whereabouts.

“I want to thank every single one of you for being here,” Clark said. “I found my son, and I had 10 days of pure hell where I had millions of people, people I don’t even know, helping.

“Without my intimate team, I could have never made it through this,” she continued. “When my faith, or my strength dropped, I had people who would help me. Or they would call people who would come help me.”

Dwight’s body was officially identified by Bellingham Medical Examiner Gary Goldfogel on Oct. 7. After an autopsy, Goldfogel determined that “there were no signs of inflicted trauma” on the body, and Dwight was likely in the water the entire time he was missing. The certification of cause and manner of death is pending the results of the toxicology tests and other studies. The finalization is expected in the six-to-eight weeks.

Clark used the occasion of her son’s memorial to not only thank Dwight’s friends, but also to warn them to be careful.

“No matter what you guys do in life, no matter where you go, what parties you go to, don’t leave anybody behind. Make sure all your people are accounted for,” she said. “And if something bad happens, get help.

“It’s scary and it’s easy to run because you don’t know what to do. But if whoever was with my son would report what they saw and what happened to him, it would give me one last closure,” she said. “Somebody was with him, and somebody left him down by that water.

“Stay with your people. Stay safe. For those of you who are Dwight’s close-knit friends, I’m really talking to you … because if I lose any of you, it’s really going to be like losing another kid. Take care of each other.”

She also advised everyone who looked for her son to pitch in and help find other missing children.

“What I ask for you guys is to pay it forward,” Clark said. “Help the other families who are searching for their kids. To know where your child is is everything in the world.”

Lorenzo Curry, Dwight’s stepfather and the father of his younger half-brother Jared Curry, spoke of the promise that Dwight had ahead of him.

“He was something else,” Curry said. “He was a great kid. He had so much potential. He had his life ahead of him. I was waiting to see what he was going to be.”

Gavin Aubert, Dwight’s best friend and partner in the clothing line Forevergreen Apparel, also thanked the crowd and vowed to make Forevergreen “the biggest name brand ever.”

Finally, Jill Tibbetts presented Clark with a plaque, bearing a photo of her son flashing his customary two-thumbs-up gesture.

“I wanted RaeLyn to have this memory,” she said.

Tibbetts was in the process of petitioning the City to have the plaque permanently placed at the skate park.

“When you guys are skating, I want you to know that he is there watching you every day,” she said. “He’s there with two thumbs up.”