For the second time this academic year, the Evanston Township High School community gathered at the First Church of God Christian Life Center to mourn the loss of a student.
About 1,200 people gathered Saturday morning at 1524 Simpson St. for the funeral of Kevoyn Cox, an ETHS senior who died in a car crash last month.
Cox was traveling in a speeding car March 28 when the car hit a tree in the 2900 block of Howard Street. Paramedics pronounced Cox dead on the scene at about 10 p.m. Four other passengers in the car were transported to the hospital in stable condition.
Friends and family of the ETHS student filled the pews of the First Church of God, gathering to mourn his loss and celebrate his life. Rev. Monte Dillard oversaw the proceedings.
Women from the Agape Life Outreach Center performed a dance in remembrance of Cox, and Cox’s relative Chinnel Williams read an original poem she had written for him.
Relatives described Cox as a fun-loving man who “enjoyed life to the fullest and lived everyday as if it were his last” in an obituary printed in the program. Cox’s cousin Devandrew Johnson recalled “good times and good memories.”
“I’ll always remember how much trouble he got us into,” Johnson said, laughing.
Jessie Beckford, a friend of Cox’s, remembered him as a good humored, funny person. Beckford, a freshman at ETHS, said it was difficult to have lost both Cox and Dajae Coleman within seven months of each other. Coleman, an ETHS freshman, was fatally shot in September.
More than anything, however, Cox’s family remembered how much he enjoyed driving.
“The number one thing he loved to do was drive,” his niece Amaiya Pennanc said. Minster Franklin Williams said in his eulogy that Cox would always have an extra gas can in the vehicle, just in case the car ran out of gas.
“It’s hard to sit there and watch him go by, but I’ll always remember his smile,” Johnson said.
In early October, ETHS students and parents came together at the same church to mourn Dajae Coleman, a 14-year-old who was shot dead while walking home from a party in late September. Coleman was mistakenly targeted by a 20-year-old Evanston man who was later charged with first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
