[Sly Fox]

This accident involves a guy who was planning to come to LU:

Community mourns the deaths of 4 young adults
By Ruth Ann Replogle Lifestyles Editor

A weekend of rejoicing turned to mourning Tuesday as news of the deaths of four young adults spread through Enid.

Isaac King, 20, Aaron Davis, 20, Sarah Foster, 19, and Stephen “Steve-O” Dillon, 18, all of Enid, were killed Monday night in an automobile accident near Tulsa. They were returning to Enid after a float trip on the Illinois River.

“I’m just sick. I’m devastated,” said Sylvan Reynolds, coordinator of the annual “A Fling at the Springs” music festival. King and Dillon, along with bandmate Jared Oxford, were among the groups performing at “A Fling at the Springs” last September. The three musicians called themselves After 3 and had just finished recording an album of original material last week.

“He (King) was very talented. He had the whole world ahead of him,” Reynolds said.

King and Dillon, with Oxford, played a “going-away” concert Friday night at Government Springs Park in what ironically would be their final public Enid performance. King had been selected for a theatrical musical group called Primary Focus to travel throughout the country performing for a year and was to leave this week for Tennessee to join the group.

At Emmanuel Baptist Church Tuesday, staff members grieved for King, who played bass guitar in the praise and worship band Saturday nights and again early Sunday mornings.

“He could really play guitar,” said student minister Andrew Heath. “We were needing a musician for Refuge (the Saturday night service) and he had a heart for worship.”

Heath said Dillon, a drummer, occasionally would fill in at Refuge, too. Usually he played drums on Sundays at Temple Baptist Church.

The four — three of whom were home schooled while Dillon graduated from Pioneer High School in May — were heavily involved with youth in one way or another.

Dillon worked with youth at Temple Baptist Church while King worked with youth at Emmanuel and Garland Road Baptist churches. Dillon was attending Northern Okla-homa College Enid, studying to become a youth minister, and King was planning to attend Liberty University, following his commitment with Primary Focus.

“He (Stephen Dillon) was going to be a youth minister; he was going to be ours,” said Kevin Strope, pastor of Temple Baptist Church. “He’ll leave a huge hole here in the church.”

King, Davis and Foster all had worked at the Denny Price Family YMCA for the past couple of years — Foster was a lifeguard and swim instructor, while Davis and King were rock climbing instructors and the driving force behind the Y’s Climbing Club. Foster often joined them at the rock climbing wall and on climbing trips, including one this past May.

“They took me and a few of the kids on a climbing trip to the Wichita Mountains,” said YMCA director Ken Rapp. The trio also worked at the Vance Air Force Base swimming pool.

“She (Foster) worked really good with the kids. She was quiet, but very well-liked,” said Kathi Black, Foster’s supervisor at the Y, who added Foster was training to become a nurse at NOC. “She had a calming effect on people.”

“He (King) just pulled everyone into his sphere,” said John Stam, who was with the foursome just prior to the fatal accident.

King, who graduated from the automotive technology and collision repair program at Autry Tech-nology Center in May, had served as school president of Autry’s SkillsUSA chapter. SkillsUSA is a student organization for those in trade and technology fields.

Davis was enrolled in Autry’s emergency medical technician program. In June 2005, as a firefighting student, he was a national SkillsUSA competition champion.

“These were just good kids,” said Cheryl Licklider, Autry Tech instructor and SkillsUSA adviser. “These boys were very close to God.”

During the Friday night concert, Stam was approached by King to go on a Labor Day canoe trip. He, Davis and King were on a rock climbing trip three weeks ago.

“Aaron was Isaac’s best friend. That kid had no fear,” Stam said, recalling his previous encounters with Davis.

King, Dillon, Foster and Davis traveled to Tulsa Sunday afternoon to stay with a friend before heading out Monday morning to float the Illinois River. They were joined in Tahlequah by Stam, his daughter Michaela, his son Andrew and Andrew’s friend Grant.

“We paddled together until 12:30,” John Stam said. The Stams left around 1 p.m. to return to Enid and the foursome left shortly thereafter to return to their friend’s house in Tulsa for a while. The deadly crash oc-curred around 10 p.m. Monday on the west side of Sand Springs on U.S. 64.

“They touched so many lives,” Stam said.

“All four were Godly kids. They were great role models for my kids. They were a positive influence,” Rapp said. “We are going to really miss them.”

Pioneer High School superintendent Bill Noak said Dillon was a good student and he remembers traveling with him to Tulsa for a student council event.

“It hasn’t been a good day,” Noak said. “The more time you spend in this business, the more you have to deal with this. It never gets easy.”

King is survived by his parents, Dale and Karen King, and five siblings. Dillon is survived by his mother, Belinda Dillon, and four siblings. Foster is survived by her parents, Bill and Judy Foster, and one brother. Davis is survived by his parents, David and Renee Davis, and eight siblings.

http://www.enidnews.com/localnews/local ... ndarystory

[Jasmen8182]

I feel a little bit of the "hole" that people who knew them are feeling; there are certainly a lot of siblings btwn. the 3; I pray for the other kids and the parents.