I remember when I was in middle school, and my stepmom wanted to take us all to Mink and Walters Pumpkin Patch. She told  us that it was the best Pumpkin Patch she had ever been to. Almost as soon as I arrived, Brad immediately went up to me and said hi, showing me around the patch. 

As we remember Brad Mink, we must remember short little stories like this,  which will keep the spirit of him alive. 

“One time we had a group of friends, and we all went over to Brad’s house, and we had a giant bonfire,” sophomore Abby Wilson said.“We all played Cards Against Humanity, and we were crying laughing. Then we decided to blow up some extra pumpkins, because we had fire crackers. Then we hid by the side by side, and they all blew up. It was hilarious.

“Then we went around, and rode the side-by-side, and let me tell you, he drives that thing like a maniac!”

Though Brad had a fun and crazy side to him, he was also extremely loving. He was the true embodiment of someone who really didn’t care who you were, and just how you treated others.

“So even if you weren’t friends with him or you just met him that day, he’ll talk to you like you’ve known eachother forever,” Wilson said.“He makes you feel welcome,” sophomore Makayla Mosher added..

Graycie Campbell, a sophomore at Central, shared  the very first encounter she ever had with Brad. 

“I was very upset and I was walking through the hallways, and he stopped me dead in the hallway, like the bell had already rung, class had started. He said ‘Are you okay?’ We walked around until I calmed down and he finally went to his class at least ten minutes late.”

He clearly had a soft spot to him, and was willing to help others even if he had to make a sacrifice. He impacted a lot of people’s lives, whether it be big or small.

For Campbell,  though, it was in a pretty big way.

“Everytime Brad was like, ‘Hey I like this person,’ and I never liked that person, he made me see another side of that person even if I didn’t like them,” Campbell said.

The impact of changing another person’s mind is a true gift to give in my eyes, and something I wish more people would do.

Moving through life with the weight of the loss of a person is truly one of the hardest things a human being can go through. Especially with someone like Brad.

As we continue living our lives, and keeping Brad in our hearts, we might not remember all the words that he said, or all the things that he did, but we’ll always remember how he made us feel.