Friends remember Stanhope junior Nate Jones

Many have cherished memories of Nate Jones who died unexpectedly and tragically Sunday morning.

Friends, family and students and staff of Stanhope Elmore High School gathered to remember the junior soccer player and encourage everyone to reach out for help in times of distress at vigil at the school. Coaches and pastors shared memories of Jones before candles were lit in the Stanhope Elmore Gymnasium.

“Nate was an amazing young man,” Grandview Pines Baptist Church pastor Chance Sangster said. “He was funny, smart, kind. You always saw him with a smile on his face. I never called him Nate. I called him ‘Nate the Great.’ I still call him that. 

“He was a special member at our church and has touched a lot of lives.”

Jones shared the soccer field with his teammates and coach Johanna Angelo on Friday night against Wetumpka. Angelo described the game as “hard and tough — lots of things happened,” but she noticed two things she will cherish of Jones.

“Nate gave me the most beautiful smile,” Angelo said. “It was a touching one that just lit me up. I thought, ‘Oh look at that.’ Then I flipped back to coaching. I think my gift from him was that moment. 

“The other was him chasing down Wetumpka’s defense like they had bones he wanted. I remember both of those moments because he was working so hard. He wouldn’t give up and let them go. Those are the two moments from Friday I get to take forever.”

Sangster said he did see Jones on the soccer field a few times.

“Nate was very athletic,” Sangster said. “He ran like a gazelle. He would run and make it look like other kids were just walking. He was extremely fast.”

But Sangster said Jones educated him on many things only teenagers and children could.

“Not only was Nate athletic, he was also a gamer,” Sangster said. “I remember talking to him about Fortnite. I don’t know what Fortnite is and I don’t know what skins on Fortnite is but he was talking away. He informed me a lot of what Fortnite is.”

Everyone shared memories of Jones but also wanted everyone to learn from his tragic death. Richie Beyer coached Jones in soccer from a young age along with his son. Beyer is also a volunteer coach at Stanhope Elmore.

“[This] is a moment of reflection and hope,” Beyer said. “Let’s not only remember the good moments with Nate but take something away from this.”

Sangster said time is one of two special gifts given to everyone by God.

“Time is something you can never buy back, but you spend it everyday,” Sangster said. “Time is something you are never guaranteed to have. Some people have a lot of time on this Earth. Some people have a little.”

Sangster said everyone at some point in their lives will experience “trouble, heartache, difficulty and bad days.”

“Everybody has burdens they bear, griefs they take on,” Sangster said. “If I could encourage you to do anything it would be to share those burdens with people God has blessed you with in your life. Go to a mommy or daddy, a teacher, a pastor, a grandmother or grandfather so those moments you are overwhelmed with life, that you have somebody to pick you back up and help you on this journey we call life.”

Angelo reiterated everyone will have troubled times in their lives but advised everyone to not allow it to become permanent. Angelo encouraged those feeling stuck to seek help.

“Whenever these things happen, we don’t know what to think,” Angelo said. “We feel the sadness, anger and grief and guilt and all the things in between. You can feel all these things but you can’t live there. You don’t live in the grief; you don’t live in the anger. You don’t live in the pain and you don’t live in the sadness. 

“If you find that you are living there, then come find us. Feel all the things but don’t ever live there.”

Funeral services for Jones will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Stanhope Elmore High School Gymnasium. The family will receive friends in the gymnasium from noon to 1 p.m. Interment to follow at Brookside Memorial Gardens.