Life Goes On

On the 26th day of May 26 years ago my brother was killed in an automobile accident. He was 16 years old and had a 16 year old friend in the car with him. The friend was killed as too. A small community, where everyone knows everyone, lost two young men in a matter of seconds. Two families lost a piece of their heart. Two families will forever have an empty spot at the table on holidays.

They weren't where they were supposed to be. My brother told my mom that he was just going a mile up the road to watch  movies with his friend. He was supposed to be home by midnight. He never made it back.

A police officer came to my families home and told my mother that her son had been killed.

I was married and living 4 hours away and was planning to leave that day to go visit my family to celebrate Memorial Day. The phone call came at 4 a.m. I answered the phone and my then 18 year old sister asked to speak to my husband. It didn't occur to me at that moment to consider something could be wrong. I remember clearly my husband walking down the hallway in the tiny trailer we lived in on campus telling me he needed to tell me something. I immediately asked if it was my dad...my mom? When he told me it was my brother I fell to my knees. The landscape of my family changed forever that day.

It was a head on collision. The guys in the other car were injured and hosptialized. My brother's funeral was the day before his friend's funeral. My sister graduated valdictorian of her senior class 3 days later. My parents fell apart and were pretty much absent for a few years.

Life has a way of moving forward regardless of death. My family has grown. My remaining 4 siblings married and have children. My parents are the grandparents of 11 grandchildren and one great grandchild. There is still an empty spot at the table on holidays. That space will never be filled.

My brother and his friend were killed by a drunk driver. Two young men died needlessly. Their families forever deprived of their prescence.


The driver of the car, my brother, made a poor choice that night. A choice that hurts still today.

Peace and hope to us all!