Holcomb graduates honor late classmate

At the graduation dinner, the class of 2009 presented Tyler Dobbins' family with a framed poem, left, a photo and signed matte of the current class, bottom, a commemorative tassle and graduation program, along with other items. Dobbins, center, lost his life in an automobile accident at the age of five. Staff photo by George Anderson

Tyler Dobbins, who was born June 2, 1992, is the late son of Alyce Bryant of Kennett and Stephen Dobbins of Hayti, Mo. Dobbins lost his life in a tragic automobile accident near Rector, Ark., at the age of five on Nov. 16, 1996.

"He was five [and] in Kindergarten," Bryant said. "The class was very good to me then. They got me a tree that I planted in my front yard, and actually it died during the freeze this year. So it was very strange that it just died this year."

On May 19, 2009, the HHS graduating class remembered Dobbins by placing an honorary chair in their line up, complete with school colors and roses.

"That was his chair that they sat there to remember him by and it had roses in it," Bryant said. "At the end, they brought [the roses] to me."

In her speech, Salutatorian Mallori Jones spoke of how the loss of a friend taught the class an important lesson.

"We hit our first hard time when we were only in Kindergarten," Jones said. "We lost our best friend and classmate, Tyler Dobbins, in a horrible accident.

"I think we all remember Mr. Rickman coming into our classroom and trying to explain to a class full of Kindergarteners that their friend would no longer be with them. Nobody really understood until day after day, he wasn't in school with us.

"Mrs. Candy helped us to understand. She told Chad [Adams] that anytime we wanted to see him to just go outside at night and look up at the stars. Every time they twinkled, it was Tyler winking down at us. Our class stuck together and got through this hard time. This tragedy taught us a very important life lesson, take nothing for granted."

When graduation time began to get close this year, Candy Adams, a mother of one of Dobbins' classmates, called Bryant and invited Dobbin's family to the graduation dinner that the class was having.

Bryant said she went to the graduation dinner and at the event, the class presented her with a picture of Dobbins, a poem, a class video, a composite picture of the current class along with a matte signed by the graduates, along with other items.

"One of the kids wrote a poem and they had it framed for me, Bryant said. "It was really sweet."

The poem, which was written by Ashley Emmons, and read, "We will remember him, we always will. Even though he is gone, he is with us still. We will never forget his short blonde hair, and the way he never wanted to sit in his chair. Those bright blue eyes looked straight through your soul. We are never forgetting, never letting go. The good times we had that we will never forget. Now we look at our lives with no regret. He taught us so much that we didn't even see. He is a part of this class and always will be."

"Through this whole year, I knew that it was his graduation and that I wanted to go watch those kids graduate because I knew what they had been doing throughout the whole school year," Bryant said. "I wanted to go up to the bleachers and sit quietly and watch them graduate. They put me on the front row, which was fine, but it was hard watching them graduate."

Bryant said the ceremony was an emotional experience because the week of graduation was the only time she has ever allowed her self to ask "What if?" What would her son be doing now? Where would he have gone to college? Would he still have the same friends?

Bryant said that she is extremely thankful for the class' efforts because they allowed her to do something she thought she would never get to do - participate in her son's graduation.

"I can't even begin to thank [the 2009 graduating class] because I never thought I would get to participate in his graduation," Bryant said. "I never get to give him away as being married. I never get to see his grandkids. I didn't think I would ever get to participate in his graduation, and I did, in a small way. I got to sit and watch his class graduate. They gave that to me and that was just the most awesome experience I've ever had."