Justin and Kelly Coleman of North Texas are now living through a grief that is almost impossible to comprehend.
How does a mom and dad survive burying one child?
And then somehow find the strength to bury another?
Justin and Kelly Coleman of North Texas are now living through a grief that is almost impossible to comprehend.
Three years ago, they lost their only daughter, 18-year-old Kaybree.
Last weekend, they lost their 13-year-old son, Kenlan “Scooter” Coleman.
Two children.
Three years apart.
The same mom and dad now having to learn how to live with two enormous holes in their family.
Kaybree died in 2023, just weeks after turning 18 in a car crash.
She was a senior at Windthorst High School, a cheerleader and athlete who participated in volleyball, basketball, track, FFA, FCCLA, archery and 4-H.
But Justin and Kelly didn’t allow that light to disappear when their daughter died.
They created the Kaybree Coleman Memorial Scholarship.
Just this past May, Kelly was celebrating four graduating Windthorst seniors receiving $500 scholarships in her daughter’s memory.
She wrote about how difficult choosing the recipients had been because so many of their stories touched her.
Think about the heart behind that.
These parents took one of the most devastating things that can happen to a family and found a way to turn their daughter’s memory into something good for somebody else’s child.
Now, less than three months after handing out those scholarships, they are grieving another one of their own.
Kenlan died Saturday in an ATV rollover in Archer County.
Kenlan’s obituary begins with words that touch your heart.
Their “sweet Baby Boy” ran into the arms of Jesus, “with his Sweet Sister waiting with open arms for him.”
His family remembers Scooter as a young cowboy with a huge heart who loved horses, cattle, ranch work and his family.
And now Justin and Kelly have had to say goodbye to him too.
I can’t pretend to know what words could possibly make this easier.
So, I’m asking everyone here to please help.
Leave Justin and Kelly a prayer, a message of love or simply their children’s names:
Kaybree and Kenlan.
And if you’ve experienced the unimaginable loss of a child, perhaps share what helped you survive the days when surviving itself seemed impossible.
