The day he died in a motorbike crash in one of Lake Macquarie's northern suburbs, 18-year-old Cooper Houlton had earlier come to the aid of a stranger - a young woman who had become pinned by her dirt bike while riding in bushland.
That, Cooper's mum Chantelle Houlton says, was the kind of person her son was - he would jump at the chance to help anyone.
Cooper died after his bike crashed in trees and bush near Boundary Street at West Wallsend about 3.30pm on Saturday. He was two days shy of his 19th birthday.
"I, for the life of me, cannot remember a single day when that boy didn't tell me he loved me," Ms Houlton told the Newcastle Herald on Wednesday.
"He wouldn't leave the room until we said it back. He was just beautiful.
"He made friends wherever he went - he wasn't one of those kids who stood back when we went to the park [when he was younger]. He was funny, he was the life of the party, he was the class clown."
Cooper grew up at Lake Macquarie with Ms Houlton, his dad Rob Drury, three brothers and a sister - and had a love of motorbikes from an early age. He went to school at Swansea High before switching to Kotara High School and had more recently been working behind the bar at the Lake Macquarie Tavern.
A Go Fund Me page called 'In Loving Memory of Cooper Houlton' has been set up to help the family with funeral costs and other expenses as they come to terms with the devastation of the crash.
Ms Houlton said the family, now living at Holmesville, had been inundated in the past few days with messages of love and support - many telling stories about how her second-eldest boy had brightened someone's day or brought some humour to a serious situation.
"He was so appreciative of everything - you could buy him a pair of socks and it would be like you bought him a new motorbike helmet," Ms Houtlon said.
"Even if there was a family-sized packet of chips in the cupboard, he'd say 'can I open these?'"
The family has been told that Cooper freed a young woman who was trapped by her dirt bike not long before his fatal accident on Saturday.
"That gives me comfort because that is the boy I will always remember," Ms Houlton said. "We are so, so proud."
Ms Houlton said the family wanted to thank Noah Fisher, a young man who was a stranger to Cooper but who came across the seriously injured 18-year-old and administered CPR until paramedics arrived at the scene.
"I want the world to know how much of a hero that boy is," she said. "He just did not give up."
The teenager's godfather, Andrew Hills, said Cooper had been brought up to have "old school respect and old school values".
"He'd always have something cheeky to say and we'd give him a hard time," he said.
"I wish I had him as my own son, sometimes.
"You know how they say the good die young? He was too good to die."
