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REMEMBERING BARON
Saying goodbye to Baron Braswell II
Date published: 1/28/2006
By ADAM HIMMELSBACH Everyone mentions his smile. It was disarming. Take a moment and look at it, right next to these words. You can see the ocean of promise in that face. Baron Braswell II had a smile that made strangers comfortable. It made friends feel loved. It made his family feel blessed. He flashed that smile often, because so many things made Baron happy. Like his grandmother's homemade cake with its coconut icing. Like deep-sea fishing. Like sitting on the porch with his father on lazy summer evenings and talking about football. But that smile was taken away. Braswell, a 16-year-old junior at Courtland High School, was stabbed to death at a party at the Howard Johnson in Spotsylvania County last Friday night. Five James Monroe High school football players have been arrested, and a sixth teen has been charged with first-degree murder. Baron will be laid to rest today. Then his teammates and friends and family will say goodbye, and they'll be left with the memory of his indelible smile. A cheerful childGwen Braswell wondered if her unborn child could hear her voice. She'd softly rub her stomach and talk to him. She'd say, "I love you" over and over. She was in labor for more than 20 hours at a hospital in Fort Benning, Ga., but it was worth every second. Sometimes when babies are born, their tiny eyelids are shut like shades over windows. When Baron P. Braswell II entered the world on Sept. 29, 1989, he looked up at his mother as she held him in her arms. His eyes were big and exploring. "He knew exactly who I was," Gwen says. Baron was a cheerful little boy. He used to crawl into a small cupboard in the kitchen, bottle in hand. He'd take the pots and pans and push them onto the floor to make room for his little fort. Sometimes the elder Baron and Gwen would put the cookware back in the cabinet, but it was a futile effort. A few moments later little Baron would toss it back out. The parents laughed. Gwen was studying to become an anesthesia nurse, and she used to pore over textbooks while her baby sat close and flipped through Sesame Street books. "Mommy, read to me!" he'd plead.
Date published: 1/28/2006
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