Ten Years Ago Today

It is with a heavy heart that I blog about this topic.

It's kind of cliched in our world; a senior in high school with lots of promise is tragically killed in some type of accident. Ten years ago today, December 23, 1998, this cliche came to life for my senior class. Our friend Jim Kennedy was killed in a car accident. Jim was in my class, we were seniors, and he was a great guy. He was popular, funny, sarcastic, friendly, and loyal. He was a star soccer player, becoming the school's alltime leader in assists.

He was someone who I had known since I was 9 years old; we played baseball together. When we were 10, my dad was the manager of our team. It was Dad's first year managing, and he didn't know too much about the players that were my age. I remember the night that he came home from the draft. He showed me the roster; one of the 10 year olds on our team was Jimmy. My dad recalled that when he drafted Jimmy, not knowing anything about him, another manager (Mr. Molnar) winced in agony; he was hoping to get Jimmy as a steal later in the draft.

I remember the events of December 23, 1998 very vividly. It was the last day of school before Christmas break, and it was a Wednesday. It was a half day of school. I was in the library during 9th period study hall with two friends, Joe Gramc and Justin Bonus. We were hanging out, counting the minutes until school would be left out. About 10 minutes before the day ended, Joe's older brother Matt came into the library with a grim look on his face and told Joe that he had to go. I didn't think too much about it at the time.

I went home from school, and I honestly don't remember who called me a few hours later. All I remember is that I called Bonus. He was taking a nap, and his mom answered the phone. I told her that she probably should wake Justin up for this. He came to the phone, and I broke the news to him: Jim had died in a car accident that morning. Justin was incredulous; I could hear the agony in his voice as he didn't want to believe it.

There was a big group grieving session at the house of Jim's girlfriend, Ali. She was in the car with him, and walked away; she was wearing a seatbelt, he was not. I can't remember who all was there; I just remember that it seemed like our entire class was there. We were grieving together.

Jim's viewing was on Saturday, which was the same day as our family Christmas party, which was at our house. I had to dress up and leave the family party early in order to see Jim in his wake. It was a horrible experience. His funeral was three days later. It was at Northway Christian Community, which is a huge church, and it was packed to the gills. I remember Meghan Ott singing "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLaughlin; to this day, I prefer not to listen to McLaughlin songs because they remind me of Jim's funeral. The pastor that day, Scott McCabe, told a story about Jim being at the Rams' hockey game the Sunday night just three days before his death. According to Pastor McCabe, he had a conversation with Jim about his faith, and Jim was saved that night - a clear sign of God's divine plan.

As a senior class, we grieved for most of the rest of the school year. There was a basketball tournament at the high school for the holidays the week of Christmas break. At the first game, we had a moment of silence for Jim. We also began the tradition that week of preserving Jim's parking space. He was particular about this space; parked there every day. Our class decided to save his space for the remainder of the year. We spray painted our farewell messages to him on this space, and for the rest of the year kept people from parking there. At the holiday basketball tournament, someone parked in his space, and about 30-40 students walked outside to physically move the car of the person parked in the space. They lifted it and moved it to another space (I was not involved, as I was the PA announcer for the tournament).

I remember that earlier that fall, I had gone to the football game at Hampton with Jim and a couple other friends. We were parked up by the high school, and walking to the football field, when some kids in a Mustang drove down the street. In my estimation, they were driving way too fast, and I yelled at them to let them know that. They stopped, and invited me to talk with them in not so many nice words. We were yelling at each other, and they wanted to fight. Jim stepped in, told them they were being stupid, and got them to get going on their way.

These are just a few of my memories of Jim. I can't believe that it was ten years ago today that he passed. Ten years ago today, we were sitting in the middle of a living room in Treesdale, consoling each other over the loss of one of our best friends. Ten years ago today that Jim's life was cut tragically short. The only thing that gives me comfort to this day is the fact that, someday, I will see him in Heaven.