EAST MANATEE -- Nearly 1,400 family members and friends gathered at Bayside Community Church on Saturday to remember two Lakewood Ranch High School students killed in a car accident Christmas night.
Loved ones remembered Josh Rogers and Brett Wagner, both 18, as loving, fun and outgoing teenagers who lived each day to the fullest.
One by one, they entered Bayside Community Church for the service called ?A Celebration of Life.? Family and friends wore orange and green: Orange was Brett?s favorite color and Josh sometimes showed up to school with part of his hair dyed green.
Outside, Friends gathered around Wagner?s black Ford F-250, which was parked next to the church. Many wore neon orange or green shoes. Others dyed half of their hair green in honor of Rogers.
?Just his personality, I guess,? said Shane Zipperer, 14, Rogers and Wagner?s friend. ?He always had that crazy personality.?
Zipperer said Rogers was a loud talker who often quoted lines from the movie, ?Forrest Gump.?
Inside the church, a screen displayed two photos of Rogers and Wagner. Next to it, the screen read, ?In loving memory.?
As the crowd gathered inside, photos of the boys through the years flashed on two other screens.
About a dozen floral arrangements adorned the stage. Among them: a white cross with a ribbon reading ?Bubba,? Josh?s nickname, and another arrangement with a football.
Ike Sanders, Wagner?s uncle, cried as he spoke about his nephew. Sanders said that on Christmas Eve, Wagner told him, ?Uncle Ike, I?m going to Central Florida? to play football, and later said, ?It?s going to be the greatest day of their life.?
?That was Brett,? Sanders said. ?Brett?s purpose was to make you smile. Brett?s purpose was to make you a happy person when he walked away from you.?
Wagner?s sister, Nichole Wagner, recalled some of her memories of her brother: Baby Brett learning to walk, and then run, at 9 months old. His pillow fights with friends. Brett climbing out of his bedroom window with a lawn chair to sit on the roof.
Wagner also stressed the importance of wearing a seat belt. Wagner and Rogers were not wearing seat belts during the fatal car crash.
?The next time you get into a car, think about what the right thing to do is,? she said.
On Christmas night, Rogers was driving with his best friend, Wagner, when a four-door Nissan pulled out from a stop sign at Rye Road and struck Rogers? truck, causing it to roll several times. Both were ejected and suffered head trauma, family members said.
Wagner died that night. Two days later, Rogers died.
Rogers?s cousin, T.J. Brown, remembered Josh as the kind of boy who did what he wanted. When he was little, Brown said Josh once cut off a patch of his hair with a clipper. Growing up, Josh loved watching ?Lion King,? Brown said.
Source: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/01/01/3757863/nearly-1400-pack-bayside-community.html
jason witten ucla vs usc rich rodriguez rich rodriguez the muppet movie the muppet movie mars rover
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.