When 16-year-old Saxon Halfyard went out with his mom Kandi Gorko, she had to bring along an orange or banana and a thermos of hot tea – and an extra pair of socks.
“He made sure if you saw somebody that was suffering, he wanted to stop and make sure that person had something,” said Gorko, who spoke to CTV News Saturday about her son, who died in a collision on Crowchild Trail last Wednesday.
Gorko said Halfyard was driving to a medical appointment at Children’s Hospital Wednesday when his white 2009 Lincoln MKX was bumped by a 2011 version of the same vehicle when a 47-year-old man tried to move into the far-right lane heading north on Crowchild.
That caused Halfyard’s vehicle to go off the road, where it crashed into a traffic sign with a concrete base and burst into flames.
On Saturday, Gorko recalled her son affectionately, as someone who brought a positive attitude to life and made others feel better when they got to know him.
“He made people feel heard and seen and he could turn any frown upside down. He had a really quirky fun personality,” she said. “He loved his friends very much.
“He loved his family,” she said, continuing. “He loved outdoors and camping and fishing and skateboarding. He loved dogs and cats – any animal, really, but he had a really special connection with his animals.
“He was a really kind soul,” Gorko added.
“He has a whole community of people – family, friends and people that didn’t know him – he touched a lot of lives, in many ways that I don’t even know how to express.”
She recalled an incident where a friend of hers rolled her ankle, prompting Saxon to roll into action.
“He ran to her and grabbed her ankle and put it up on the seat and went to the freezer and grabbed ice and elevated her foot and said, now you sit there for 15 minutes and don’t move and I’ll come back and check on you,” she said. “He just had this kind and caring spirit like nothing I’d ever seen before.
“He just cared about people so much.”
Another one of Saxon’s favourite things to do was going survival camping with his stepdad Tommy Fenlon, Gorko said.
Memorial
Friends paid tribute to the Central Memorial High School Grade 11 student throughout the day Thursday, as a growing memorial formed at the crash site.
“We’re all shattered, and not only our family, but a whole entire community and everybody involved – so it’s left a very big gaping hole in our lives that I don’t think we understand the magnitude of yet,” Gorko said.
“But I’m hopeful that we’ll all get the support we need to heal together to keep his memory and spirit alive,” she said.
“I know his friends will make damn good sure of that.
“It’s been quite comforting and giving me pieces of warmth and peace because people that either they knew Saxon or acquaintances of Saxon, his best friends, people have been just reaching out and telling me little stories of how he impacted their lives,” she said.
“People saying, you know, he’s human medicine. He could turn any frown upside down. He made me feel seen and safe.”
‘He pursued life’
Saxon’s father Jason Halfyard said the outpouring of grief from his son’s friends has been moving.
“He lived for those friends,” Halfyard said. “He loved those friends, he was always engaging with them, always out having fun, getting into kids’ stuff and having fires at the parks and stuff like that – that’s what he loved to do was really be around his friends.
“As sad as it is, it’s very heartwarming at the same time to see,” he said. “The other day, we had 30 kids in my living room stop by all kind of sharing stories and sharing laughs, talking about Saxon and how he’s remembered with the impact he left on their lives – it was very touching for me and very hard to hear at the same time."
‘That was Saxon’s job’
Halfyard also related a story about how Saxon’s friends hosted a vigil in his honour.
“The other night, there was a vigil for him and his buddies at North Glenmore Park, so it was very fitting when I showed up there,” he said.
“There’s 35 kids there sitting around, freezing to the bone,” he said, “and nobody could start the fire – because that was Saxon’s job.
“So they asked me to start the fire, and we got a big fire going and managed to warm them up,” he said.
“But it was a lovely gesture to see them all telling stories and sharing pictures, telling jokes.
“He was my boy,” he said. “I was his number one fan and he was my bud...and we really leaned on one another the last few years, and grew together, and I watched him become a successful young man.
“I want him to be remembered for exactly who he was,” he said. “He loved immensely. He pursued life.”
A memorial tribute to Halfyard is planned for April 11 at Bethany Chapel.
Two GofundMe campaigns here and here have been launched to support Saxon’s family.
