By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - Before 6-year-old Jarod Bennett died in his mom's arms, he left behind a secret, special gift for her.

6-year-old Jarod Bennett

Jarod, who will be buried today - on the 39th birthday of his mother, Jennifer - suffered a skull fracture Friday after a 290-pound folded cafeteria table fell on him as another child wheeled it away at Louisa Wright Elementary School.

The accident has spread sorrow through the community and touched thousands through a Web site established by the family.

Bennett arrived to pick up Jarod from an after-school program just moments after the accident Friday evening.

"I knew when I ran into the room, before I got to him, that he wasn't going to make it," Bennett said Monday in a telephone interview. "I held his little head, and told him Mommy was here and that I loved him. Then he stopped breathing. But I was with him."

The next day, Bennett sorted through her son's backpack and discovered a small package. Wrapped in Christmas paper and adorned with a red bow, its tag read: "To Mom, From Jarod."

Bennett unwrapped it and found a final memento of the spunky, brown-eyed boy who loved bugs, God and his family.

A photograph of Jarod - smiling, as always - is encased in a clear plastic key fob, accented with hand-penciled smiley faces, clouds, sun and the words, "I like you."

Jarod made it in his first-grade class, wrapped it himself and, Bennett said, "It was supposed to be a big secret; none of the kids were supposed to tell their mommies.

"I've been holding onto it a lot," she said. "It's helped me, because it had his picture and his handwriting."

The accident investigation probably will continue for a couple weeks, but Lebanon Police Sgt. Fred Jacobs said it appeared that Jarod may have been hitching a ride on the table as an 8-year-old pushed it at the conclusion of the Countryside YMCA's Prime Time program. When the table crashed to the floor, a Y counselor was across the room, warning another youngster about just that sort of play, Jacobs said.

"I just think that it was a very tragic accident, and we still don't know exactly what happened," Bennett said.

Tables such as the one that fell on Jarod are in use in schools throughout Greater Cincinnati. There have been other, similar accidents in schools - some resulting in deaths - and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has urged manufacturers to place warning stickers on the tables. Such stickers were in place on all the tables at Louisa Wright Elementary, school officials said.

Bennett said the family has been touched by the outpouring of sympathy on an Internet site that her husband, James, established in Jarod's memory. The site, www.the-bennetts.com, had registered several thousand page views since it was established Saturday, Jennifer Bennett said.

"I know he was only 6, but he touched so many people," she said. "He was a ray of sunshine."

Besides his parents, Jarod leaves his sister, Jillian, 13, and brother, Jacob, 10.

Funeral services are 11 a.m. today at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 2944 Erie Ave., Hyde Park.

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E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com