On the evening of April 3, 2007, Adrian was attending an event put on by the Weber State University campus chapter of Amnesty International. It was a little campaign called “Make Some Noise for Darfur.” He was at that with his friends, and they had a band there, and all kinds of information, and he just felt right at home. I got the feeling that he was very comfortable with the students involved with Amnesty International on campus at Weber. Anyway, this is the story as it was related to me. I’ve never looked at the police report, just because I know I can’t bear it. So I’ll tell it to you how it was told to me.

Adrian and his friends were in an automobile traveling northbound on Harrison Boulevard, right in front of the campus at Weber State. Adrian dropped his glasses out the window, for whatever reason, that accidentally happened. So his friends dropped him off, and he was out in the street looking for his glasses. Not a smart thing to do, but I think he was concerned about the glasses, and he knew I’d probably, be upset. While he was in the street, a person who was speeding came up over the rise, and didn’t see Adrian, and hit him. Adrian flew up over his car. Adrian didn’t really know what happened, it was so quick. The officer told me that the car that hit Adrian was a newer model that was extra quiet. Anyway, terrible, terrible accident.

Since Adrian was a little boy, I can remember telling him not to play in the street because it was dangerous. The investigation showed that there was no alcohol or drug use involved. He was just with friends, probably extra giddy, extra happy, just not thinking clearly. So I think the one thing that could be said about it is that it was not a good decision to look for his glasses. He should have just let them be, or he should have done something different.

I do want to say that Adrian was the most amazing kid. There is no one like him in the whole world, and there will never be another. In his memory, we have set up at Weber State University a scholarship fund. It’s called the “Adrian L. Maxson Scholarship for Social Justice.” This is a scholarship that has actually reached the first endowment level, so we are pretty excited about that. There is a website for this, http://organizations. weber.edu/AdrianLMaxsonScholarship/, and that’s where people can go to learn more about it, or download the form.

Adrian was a passionate kid. He loved life, he wasn’t reckless, he wasn’t fool-hardy, and he never thought he was above danger. He never exhibited that trait to me of, “I am teenager, therefore, I am immortal.” He made a bad judgment call; he should not have been in the street. In conversely, the driver should have been paying attention, he shouldn’t have been speeding. So that is the story of the accident. Needless to say, our life will never be the same. It’s changed in so many ways. There were 300 people at his funeral; the church was totally jam-packed.