AUBREY - The color can bring a little cleansing. In this case, it brings a lot of comfort.
"One of the things I taught him growing up was to look at the whites of another man's eyes, make your presence be known, let your character shine," said Wade White as he reflected on his son's life. "He definitely did."
Ryan White was an 18-year-old senior at Aubrey High. He died in March, just two months before he was set to graduate.
He was a boy the people in Aubrey say they were lucky to know, a boy Wade White says he was was lucky to raise.
"You know, a lot of people don't get to leave a legacy like my 18-year-old Ryan White has left," he said.
Ryan died in March, when his pickup hit a tractor on the shoulder of FM 428.
He was best known for openly sharing his faith and his smile. And Ryan's faith is carrying his family through.
"The loss of a child is the hardest thing on this earth to have to face," Wade said. "Being able to get up to face another day can be measured in just one word: faith."
The Monday after Ryan died, his classmates dressed in white, a show of solidarity. Now the small Denton County town is dressed in white.
There are white ribbons and bows on poles and trees and fences and rails. They're calling Saturday "Paint the Town White." There will be a memorial run, a concert, and a cook-off in the town square amidst all the ribbons, to raise money for a scholarship in Ryan White's name.
"That means Ryan's name will be carried on, and that's our dream," said Karen Faulkner, a close White family friend and organizer of the fundraiser.
They've had car washes and bake sales, but Saturday is the biggest yet.
There will also be a blood drive. Ryan donated blood the day before his died. Faulkner says the blood bank told her summers are a critical time to recruit donors, because there is a constant shortage of blood.
"We want this day to be uplifting and all about remembering Ryan, we don't want it to be sad, that's for sure," she said. "Ryan was one of those kids that was every girls' dream. Every parents' dream. He was a great kid."
The Ryan White scholarship will be awarded to students who choose to transfer to Aubrey High, like Ryan did, because he wanted to live a small-town kind of life.
"Ryan loved Aubrey," his dad said. "He told me on many occasions that Aubrey was home."
"My family and I are extremely humbled by Aubrey and all the surrounding towns," he said.
And this is "hometown" at its best.
E-mail twoodard@wfaa.com
