By Staff
Who could have known when they left home that December day that four young men - full of such promise and good intentions - would never return?
The deaths of brothers Sean, John and Thomas Miller and their friend Wayne Stallworth continue to make an impact on their family and friends 20 years later - but so, too, do the life lessons they left for each of us.
In the short time they spent in this community and on college campuses where they earned athletic scholarships, the boys were leaders - friendly, outgoing, good examples of scholarship and athleticism.
They made more of an impact in less than two decades than many of us can make in a lifetime.
Twenty years later, we could say that what we've learned from the tragedy of their deaths is that life is short. You never know what will happen to you or your loved ones, so you should make the most of every moment.
But we can also say we have learned so much from how those young men lived, and how their families raised them.
Be kind. Be helpful. Be courageous. Be, as their former teacher Phillip Ellis said, the “kind of students any teacher would want to have in their class.”
Wayne's mother Pearl Stallworth has created a park in memory of her son and his friends, a place to remember the boys and the legacy of their short time with family and friends.
Those memories allow the Millers and Stallworth to live on, forever young but forever wise beyond their years.