Family, friends and loved ones remembered 10-year-old Jacob Smithey during a memorial service Tuesday.
GRAHAM, N.C. -- Family, friends and loved ones remembered 10-year-old Jacob Smithey during a memorial service on Tuesday. The boy with severe autism died Saturday after wandering away from his home and being struck by a passing train.
The mother of 10-year-old Jacob Smithey said her son was a wonderful, playful little boy.
“He sort of liked to play games, like when we would go to the bus, he would take these little baby steps going to the bus,” Vickie Shore, Jacob’s mother said.
Shore said her son was diagnosed with severe autism several years ago and that just meant extra attention, like when they got ready for the bus.
“There'd be mornings he'd just want you to kiss him, hug him, all the way to the bus, and I know [the bus driver] had a schedule to keep so I would try to get him on the bus as fast as he would go.”
Jacob Smithey
Police said the boy died Saturday after he wandered away from home and was hit by a train.
“As soon as you walk through that door you know he's going to be right at that door to meet you and hug you and play with you. Every time I walked through that door he was right there, and it doesn't seem right that when I walk through that door he's not there,” Larry Shore, Jacob’s stepfather said.
Teachers at Smithey's school, E.M. Yoder Elementary, started a memorial fund they called "Jake’s fund." They money will help his family pay for the funeral costs.
“The community wanted to help, his friends wanted to help, the parents wanted to help, the staff at E.M. Yoder wanted to help and we just wanted to provide this outlet for all those people,” Daffany Pona, Jacob’s teacher said.
“I wanted people to feel the joy in his heart, just like he did,” his mother said.
Donations for “Jake’s Fund” can be made at SunTrust Bank in Mebane. The bank is located at 204 West Center Street, Mebane, NC 27302.