Baby sitters, classmates and teachers were among those who spoke at a memorial Saturday for 6-year-old Sebastian Hizey, who was killed at a monster truck show Jan. 16.
About 250 people gathered at Frontier Junior High in Graham to celebrate his life, support his family and share in the community’s grief.
Fellow Graham Elementary School kindergartner Seth Brown stood before the crowd and remembered his friend. “I asked him to play with me and he said yes,” said Brown, 6.
Some who attended, like Jody Lewis of Maple Valley, had never met Sebastian or the Hizey family. The Lewis family was also at the monster truck show, though they didn’t realize Sebastian and another man had been struck by flying debris until they returned home.
In front of everyone, Lewis told the Hizeys how much their tragedy had touched the hearts of the community and inspired parents to be thankful for their own children.
Kenneth Klubberud, one of the officiants, read descriptions that Sebastian’s classmates had written about their friend.
He made me laugh. He was fair. He liked books. He said his ABCs. He was nice. He was silly. He was funny. He liked recess. He was so cute. God is close to him.
Mary Morley, his kindergarten teacher, was not the only speaker to choke up.
“Actually, he was my teacher,” she said. “To know him was to know an angel.”
A woman who worked in Sebastian’s classroom remembered how excited the other kids had been to spell his name. It had the most letters.
“Now I know God is teaching him his alphabet,” she said.
Pastor Mark Edwards of Cavalry Community Church in Sumner told the assembly that Sebastian was surely in heaven, playing with the monster trucks he loved so much.
“I bet there’s a monster truck up there with his name on it,” he said.
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