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Nov 22, 2008 9:25 pm US/Central
Hundreds Gather to Mourn Drowning Deaths of Teens
CHICAGO (STNG) ―
One was a top athlete who had received offers from several colleges. Another was a youth sports coach who liked to cook. Both were high performing students at North Lawndale College Prep - students whose promising lives were cut short earlier this month and who were remembered in separate funerals Saturday.
Hundreds of family members and friends said goodbye to Melvin Choice, III,17, and Jimmy Avant, 18, who drowned while on a leadership retreat in
suburban Algonquin. A third victim, Adrian Jones, 16, had his funeral Friday. He was also a student at the same CPS charter high school on the city's West Side.
Brilliance Swan, 17, one of Choice's childhood friends and a pallbearer,
recalled him as a "beautiful kid" and "very talented."
"He was my brother in arms," said Swan, who wept hard at Choice's casket at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, 2622 W. Jackson. Swan wore a white dress shirt that had been decorated with Melvin's name in black and powder-blue.
Melvin was known as a helpful teen, who acted as babysitter, dance teacher and bike instructor, as well as a basketball and Little League coach. He had also aspired to be a cook, like his father, Melvin Choice, Sr., and made up his own recipes, including one for banana pudding.
The youngest of eight children, he was known to his family as "Lil' Melvin." Avant, known as "King Jimmy," was remembered as a top student and versatile athlete, who had received offers from several colleges. He played football and basketball, but loved track the most. In his blue casket at the House of Branch Funeral Home, 3125 W. Roosevelt, lay a pair of gold-painted gym shoes.
"What we'll miss most of all is his smile," said his cousin, Dede Tucker.
Members of the North Lawndale basketball team, wearing black, gold and red jerseys over dress shirts and ties, presented Avant's weeping mother, Sharon Gowdy, with the team trophy from their winning 2006-2007 season.
Avant's girlfriend, Crystal Adams, told her fellow mourners that she had been insecure, but Avant "made me feel like I was a beautiful young queen." She said she knew Jimmy would keep everyone in heaven "laughing with his jokes."
Avant, Choice and Jones were among a group of about 16 teens who had sneaked out of bed after 1 a.m. Nov. 14 to attempt to cross the Fox River in
paddleboats. They didn't know that the plugs under the boats had been removed to prepare for winter.
One of the teens was Marshaun Williams, 18, who dove into the cold, fast-moving river to try to save his friends. But he couldn't save them, and he had to swim back to shore, said his father, Pastor Robert Williams, who was comforting mourners at Choice's funeral. Williams said his son is having nightmares about what happened.
"We question why he survived," said Williams. "God wasn't ready for him right now."
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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