The graduation ceremony at Thornton Fractional North High School in Chicago was an emotional one to say the least. While the student were celebrating their graduation they were also in mourning of the death of one of their classmates who was killed in a car crash after prom. In honor of the teen his mother wore his cap and gown and accepted his diploma.
18-year-old Aaron Dunigan was a star athlete who was off to play football for Southern Illinois University after high school. He was killed over the weekend in a fatal car accident that claimed the life of another passenger. The car crossed the median and crashed into another car.
The driver was the star quarter-back’s friend David Peden, who was reportedly high on marijuana. Both Dunigan and the 56-year-old driver of the other vehicle Juan Rivera were killed.
Aaron Dunigan’s mother Katherine Jackson sobbed as she walked across the stage wearing her son’s cap and gown to accept his diploma. She said, “I’m going to be his legs and he’s going to be my wings, and we’re going to go up there and get our diploma.”
She walked through out the arena crying and hugging each of his friends one by one. She said, “My son has left a piece of him inside all of them,” she said. “Every time I hug one of them, I get a little piece of my baby back.”
Source NY Daily News
