HAWKINS, Texas — Family, friends and students gathered outside Hawkins High School to remember two students killed in a car crash last weekend.
Dozens of classmates and loved ones gathered Wednesday evening to pay their respects at a candlelight vigil and balloon release in honor of Carter Snider, 17, and Boston Wilson, 16.
Snider and Wilson were killed following a two-vehicle wreck four days ago in Houston County. They were both tremendous athletes and best friends.
Snider was a senior Hawkins High School football player, and Wilson was a Big Sandy High School basketball player.
With heavy hearts and watery eyes, family and friends packed the parking lot to honor lives taken too soon, including Boston’s older brother Jordyn Wilson said.
"I don't even have words to explain it. I just know that it (the vigil and balloon release) made them happy up there. And that's really all that matters at this point," Jordyn said. "I'm just numb. I don't even really know how to take it. Everybody says it gets better by the day, but it's really just gets harder by the week."
Jordyn, who was visibly shaken up Wednesday night, said things aren’t getting easier. But he was touched by the amount of support the families received.
"I was really surprised by the the impact them boys had on everybody," Jordyn said. "I see people out here I've never seen in my life, but somehow my brother and Carter knew him in some type of way."
Larry Moungle, one of Snider's closest friends, said Snider was his teammate, but most of all he was his best friend.
"He was always wanting to be the showstopper in football around our friends," Moungle said. "He just made everybody feel better."
Moungle said Snider had already made plans for after college. He wanted to be a car mechanic and was headed to Houston to visit a technical institute to get a jump-start on his career out of high school.
"He wanted to go D1 and if not that, he wanted to become a diesel mechanic and (he) was getting his job that next day," Moungle said.
But now, a community is heartbroken by the sudden loss.
"This will for sure leave a big mark on the community, and I guess just missing them a lot throughout our school as well," Moungle said.
It was a night of grief and remembrance as emotions poured out for two young lives cut short.
"I'm going to remember them as my best friends that wasn't scared of anybody, showed their love the way nobody else would -- and just a lover, not a fighter," Moungle said.
Jordyn said he'll remember how his brother and Snider cared for people so much.
"It didn't matter what time of day or not it was you called them, they would be there for somebody," Jordyn said.
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