HOUSTON — A grieving family said their last goodbyes Saturday morning, laying Landon Payton to rest a week and a half after he collapsed at Marshall Middle School and later died.
A funeral, or celebration is life, is often a collection of grief, especially when the person you're mourning was just 14 years old. Landon's family is coping with a loss, and they still don't know why
"Every day I pray for them, that they get the strength and the peace in their hearts that they deserve," said community member Cynthia Reyes Revilla.
The teen died after collapsing during gym class at Marshall Middle School on the third day of the school year. It's a tragedy that's gripped a community. Mourners filed inside the Bill Clair Fairchild Chapel Saturday to show their respects.
"The kids in our community mean a lot to me, and so just being here for the family means a lot to me," Revilla said. "Just for them to know that there strangers they’ve never met before are just here for them for emotional support."
On the back of Landon‘s program, there’s a poem that says "Gone too soon." A lot of people share those sentiments. Community members said while the family deals with this grief, they can only hope their support helps them move forward.
"The oldest brother, I talked to earlier and I just told him that he has the opportunity to do something great," said community member Monique Howard. "If this happened, did anything, this has pushed him to be the man that God has called him to be. So that is my hope."
There are a lot of question remaining around the circumstances of Landon's death, and the family continues to press Houston ISD for answers. But for Saturday, the focus is being together in grief.
"I believe that because it was cut short that God is going to do something amazing," Howard said.
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