Last modified: Thursday, July 13, 2006 1:40 AM EDT Rehoboth man dies in Taunton crash BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF REHOBOTH -- A local man who died in a threecar crash in Taunton Monday night was `` the best kid in the world'' and living his dream making cabinets, his father says. Jason Dowling, 22, of 13 Marion St., was a star pitcher for the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School varsity baseball team in 2002, his senior year. He planned to open his own cab inetry business someday, James Dowling said Wednesday. In the meantime, he was working as an apprentice at Monarch Industries in Warren, R.I. `` He was a talented little kid,'' James Dowling said. `` I have some pieces here that he made. He's remodeled kitchens for people -- this just when he was 20. `` This is what he always wanted to do: be a cabi net maker. He said he was living his dream. He said he eventually wanted his own business, and be the biggest one out there. `` He was the best kid in the world. He was awe some,'' his father said. Jason Dowling was driving home from a friend's house in Berkley, where he grew up, when the 1995 Lincoln Mark VII he was driving was involved in a three-car crash near 281 Tremont St. in Taunton at about 10:40 p.m. Monday, Taunton police said. Dowling's car sideswiped an oncoming car and crashed into a third vehicle, the Taunton Gazette reported Wednesday. Four people were injured in the crash. Dowling was transported to Morton Hospital and Medical Center in Taunton, where he succumbed to his injuries, Taunton police said. The driver of the third car, Richard Lourenco, was flown by medical helicopter to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. A hospital spokesman said Wednesday night that Lourenco was not listed as a patient there. Lourenco was discharged on Tuesday, according to the Gazette. The passenger in Lourenco's car, Denise Parker, was discharged from Morton Hospital on Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Taunton police and the CPAC unit of the Bristol County District Attorney's office are investigating the accident. `` He wasn't too far from the house, about five miles, six miles,'' James Dowling said. A funeral service for Jason will be held Saturday in Berkley, where he also will be buried, his father said. The Crapo-Hathaway Funeral Home in Taunton is handling the arrangements. The Dowlings had lived in Berkley before moving to Rehoboth about five years ago. `` He always wanted to go back to Berkley,'' his father said. `` I figured that would be the place to bury him, to send him home.'' Dowling's family is asking that donations in Jason's memory be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Jason battled the life-threatening genetic disease while hiding it from most everyone, his father said. `` He never wanted any sympathy from that,'' James Dowling said. `` When he went into the hospital, he said, `Don't even tell my friends where I am.' '' MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0372 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.