This was an email we got from Dad the day after 12-year-old Braxton Wills, a sixth-grader at the middle school in Rexburg, committed suicide. It is dated May 4, 2012.
A student completed suicide.
740 kids did not have a "normal" day.
Some kids didn't care.
Some put on a big show.
Some were very quiet.
We spent the day working with small groups that needed counseling.
Most of the quiet ones didn't want to talk to anyone.
I worry most about the quiet ones.
Additional counselors from neighboring school districts came to help with the load.
Children would ask me with tears in their eyes, "Mr. Shirley, why did he do this?"
A boy told a girl on the bus that she should go home and hang herself.
A group of kids told me that they had heard he was still alive, but that they had already donated his organs.
A parent wanted me to spend about half an hour with her because her child did not want to come to school.
Some high school kids showed up with a football jersey with his number and name, and wanted the kids to sign it.
Kids were decorating his locker.
Facebook was going crazy with rumors.
Some kids were wondering why some of the girls were crying when they didn't even know the boy.
Parents were coming to check out their kids for the day.
Teachers had red eyes.
Children were coming to the office calling home because they wanted to be with their mothers.
One child said he was glad it happened because he "didn't like him anyway."
Children wanted us to announce on the intercom for everyone to wear pink the next day because that was his favorite color.
Others wanted everyone to wear green because that was his favorite color.
Coaches were trying to decide whether or not to cancel the boys' baseball game because the boy was the star catcher.
Counselors from other schools collected to help with the counseling load.
Not all counselors had identification badges, which made some students uneasy.
One counselor had a Sugar-Salem sweatshirt on.
Children collected in small groups in various locations, sitting on the floor and talking about what was going on.
We were told that the possibility of copycat suicides goes up 300% in the next two months.
Kids wanted school to be cancelled.
Kids wanted school to be cancelled on the day of the funeral.
Children were hugging each other.
Teachers were hugging children.
Parents were hugging children.
Tissue boxes were everywhere.
I
received a follow-up call from the parent who wanted to know what more I
had done on why her student did not want to come to school.
Children reported that the boy had been bullied.
No one could come up with a specific incident where he was bullied.
Everyone said the someone said such and such.
Some children reported that they had seen him before he was life-flighted to Salt Lake, though no children were anywhere around.
We could not cancel the registration meeting at 6 so we went ahead with it.
I got home at about 9.
I
got a call from a friend of mine in Idaho Falls who told me he was
going to commit suicide and with slurred speech told me he had taken an
overdose.
I called 911.
A counselor in the bishopric took him to the hospital.
Sleep was difficult.
It was our anniversary.
This morning a parent wanted to see me because she had not received a call from me regarding a bullying incident yesterday.
I apologized and spent over half an hour with her.
I then met with the mother who had called me twice the day before because her child did not want to come to school.
The electrical problems on the Honda were fixed and the bill paid.
Neal and Cathie received their mission call to Southern Brazil, where he served his first mission.
We are still counseling children.
I still worry about the quiet ones.
I love my job.
Love, Padre
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