Byrneville mourns loss of a child

The community is mourning the death of 7-year-old Daniel Graham, a first grade student at Byrneville Elementary School. Graham died Sunday, Nov. 24, at Evergreen Medical Center from injuries he suffered in a four-vehicle crash that day.

Graham and his mother, April Graham, 30, were driving on Interstate 65 one mile west of Evergreen when their vehicle was struck by a 2014 Jeep Wrangler driven by 20-year-old William Farris of Pensacola. Farris was injured and transported to Evergreen Medical Center. Two other vehicles were involved in the crash and received minor damage. None of the other drivers were injured.

This was Daniel's first year at Bryneville Elementary. He had attended kindergarten and first grade at Bratt Elementary, but his mom held him back a year, and she started as a teacher at Byrneville this year.

Brandy Gafford and her husband bought some land on Highway 4A in Byrneville to build a house and Daniel's parents bought some land across the road and built a house too, so the two families became almost inseparable.

"Daniel became not just a neighbor, but part of our family," said Brandy Gafford, neighbor of Daniel whose 15-year-old daughter was good friends with Daniel. "He and my daughter were very close and would ride the four-wheelers and rangers together. We would eat every weekend together at someone's house. We had become like one big family."

Gafford said she was a distant cousin of April's and had known Daniel's step-father, Troy, since their school days when they were younger.

Gafford said Daniel called her daughter his girlfriend and he would buy the two Dr. Peppers to drink because they were very close friends.

"We called him the Byrneville sheriff," said Gafford. "He rode his little four-wheeler. He had a trail, and he would come in front of our house, then back to his house. He watched out for everybody, and always knew what was going on. That's why we called him the Byrneville sheriff."

Gafford said he was very out-going and loved the outdoors, where he spent time helping his father chop wood and loved to hunt squirrels. She said they went on camping on a week-long trip every year and hunted squirrels. She said he loved the mud races in Milton and looked forward to hunting and camping, anything in the outdoors.

Gafford's daughter said he loved to ride anything that moved, including dirt bikes, four-wheelers, Razors and anything that would go faster. She said he also really loved Nerf guns.

"Even though he was only 7, he thought he was supposed to be grown and drive as fast as everybody else," said Gafford. "I called him a big man in a little body."

Gafford said Daniel took his picture with Santa on Friday and since the wreck was that Sunday, the picture with Santa was the most recent one. They just got his school pictures back recently, where he was smiling, as he always was, emphasizing that he was a very happy child.

Gafford said the past few days, since the wreck, seem unreal.

Daniel touched many lives in his seven years, according to those who knew him.

Jackie Johnson is a 21-year veteran fifth grade teacher at Byrneville who knew Daniel not only as a student and his parents but also because she saw him at birthday parties and other gatherings over the years.

Johnson actually told Daniel's mother about the opening at Byrneville and she got the job.

"I would see him in the morning when he arrived at school with his mom," said Johnson. "And then after school, when everyone left, we had a few children who would stay there, he was part of that group."

Johnson said when her husband had a heart attack, he had to have someone with him at all times. She said he was cleared to come to the school to volunteer, and Daniel and her husband would sneak off to go get candy, and that he was always a happy, go lucky kid, who always had a smile on his face.

"He was a little character," said Johnson. "He was a kidder. During homecoming week, they went and rolled my house. Daniel went and joked and laughed and had a jolly old time that he had gone rolling!"

Johnson said he was a sweet child and that he hummed and sang all the time. She said there have been conversations between Bratt and Byrveville Elementary schools, where both Daniel attended and his mother April taught, to place a bench or something at a park that will honor his memory.

Angel Godwin, Daniel's current first grade teacher, said she the reality of the situation will not hit her until Monday morning, when she goes back to the classroom at Byrneville.

"He loved to help his classmates, he loved to help me," said Godwin. "He was always singing. When he walked in the classroom he was singing and when he left the classroom he was singing."

Godwin said he was very polite, a very happy kid, with wonderful manners.

"He was a good member of the classroom community," said Godwin. "He was very concerned about his classmates. He always wanted to help them if they needed help."

She said he encountered a classmate recently who told him she had no socks, and he approached his mother about getting some socks for her after school. Godwin said his mother asked her to find out what size socks the girl needed.

She said he was good with computers, and that when she had a problem with a computer, he was there to help. He was always learning the newest technology, loved math and was an A-B student.

"He liked to sing, he liked to dance," said Godwin. "He loved music. He especially loved country music. If he wasn't singing, he was humming. He liked to talk to people about things. He loved being inside playing and loved being outside playing and hunting. He was an all around good kid."

Godwin said Daniel was excited about being in the Christmas musical and that he had already learned all of the words.

"Daniel was a sweet child, and it was a privilege to teach him," said Godwin. "I am going to miss him terribly."

Daniel's funeral was scheduled for 2 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 27, at Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home in Brewton with the Rev. Rusty Burnham and Bro. Tommie Quick officiating. Burial was set at Pollard Cemetery with Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home directing.

Daniel is survived by his parents, Heath (Rachel) Stewart of Brewton and April (Troy) Graham of Century; one brother, Maxwell Stewart of Brewton; two step-sisters, Hadley Beasley and Lily Beasley, both of Brewton; eight grandparents, Danny and Joy Findley of Century, Ricky and Andie McNew, Larry and Tracy Stewart, all of Brewton, and Derek and Teresa Brantley of Flomaton; two special cousins, Dayton and Amye Langston, Preston and River Brantley and Colby Graham; one uncle, A.J. Graham; and three aunts, Tawana Brantley and Yancey and Shaina Langston.