QUITMAN —
Family, friends and community members paid their final respects to former Lowndes football standout Ed Christian on Friday at the BTW Funeral Home in Quitman.
Christian, 20, will be laid to rest today in Boston, following a funeral service at Mathis City Auditorium in Valdosta at 1 p.m.
Among the first to pay respects at Friday’s viewing was Lowndes head football coach Randy McPherson and his wife. Soon after, other members of the Lowndes coaching staff arrived, including coaches John Arnold and Danny Redshaw, both of whom coached Christian in football.
Along with coaches, some of Christian’s former teachers paid their respects to the former Viking, who was tragically shot and killed last Saturday while attending a pool party in Auburn, Ala.
“(Ed) was just the most helpful,” said his former U.S. History teacher Maggie Fender. “All students are special, they all are. But the ones that connect with you and those that are willing to take what you want to give them, most aren’t like that, but Ed was. He will always have a special place in my heart.”
Former classmates of Christian’s attended the viewing, including sisters Kakiyah and Keisha Spencer. Although several years older than Christian, Kakiyah said she will always remember the smile that was on Christian’s face and his warm personality.
“I just feel like it was a bad situation and the way it ended was sad,” Spencer said. “I had seen him around school a couple of times and when you see him around the store he was always friendly…He was a good person, a people person. He was very outgoing and he didn’t look down on anybody.”
While known, to many, for his athletic ability on the football field, those like Fender will remember Christian’s personality in the classroom.
“I have a lot of knee troubles,” said Fender, who received a visit from Christian less than a month before the end of the school year. “I am not an athlete but I have had three knee surgeries, so Ed would always help me up out of my seat, help me pass anything out. And if I ever had to go run an errand, Ed was my enforcer. He would watch the door. He was just a gentle giant.”
Former teammates of Christian’s also paid their respects, along with players’ families, like Dorthy Wilkes, the mother of former Viking and current Florida State Seminole Telvin Smith.
“Ed played with my son, Telvin, and they were great friends,” said Wilkes. “Ed will be missed. He was a great kid. He always had manners and he was a great athlete. It is just a sad situation.”
Desmonte Leonard, 22, was charged with the murder of Christian and two others, on Wednesday in Montgomery, Ala. after he turned himself into authorities on Tuesday night. Leonard also wounded three other men in last Saturday’s shootings, but all three are expected to make recoveries.
Christian was a member of the Lowndes football team during the 2007 state championship season. He was a member of the offensive line known as the ‘Mayflower Movers.’ Christian was named an AJC Super 11 player for his senior season in 2009.
A back injury ended Christian’s football career at Auburn last season, but he was still pursuing a college degree from the university. According to McPherson, Auburn head football coach Gene Chizik called him earlier this week and told him Christian was “getting into no trouble in Auburn”, and that he was simply in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
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