Family and friends of Conner Stafford gathered on a sunny spring afternoon following what would have been his 15th birthday to celebrate the young man’s life and memory. Conner’s mother, Patty, presented his friends with small mementos to remember him by – engraved stones for the boys and angel key chains and a poem for the girls – and displayed photos, trophies, and other memories of Conner while his friends and family enjoyed pizza and shared slices of birthday cake. “Conner was a good kid,” she said. “He touched a lot of people’s lives, and he made a difference in a lot of kids lives, and just family, in general.”
She said the choice of music, joyful, with lyrics about living life to its fullest, was deliberate as well. “I wanted today to be more uplifting and just hopeful,” she said. “Life is short. We don’t have long on this earth as it is, and we just wanted everybody to be happy. I guess that’s kind of the message we want to give everybody, is to just embrace what you can.” (Photos by Jeremy D. Wells, Carter County Times)
