EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WKBW) — "A village of love" is how Dejon Hamann describes his East Aurora community and the outpouring of support his neighbors have shown his family following the tragic passing of his son.
He lost his 19-year-old son, Jett, after he was hit and killed by a train, in East Aurora last week.
My colleague, Derek Heid, sat with the Hamann family Wednesday, where he learned more about the teen and his passion for community and the culinary arts.
The East Aurora community showed their love and support and said goodbye to Jett together, Thursday night.
Work friends who became family is how Dante, Danielle and Morgan described him.
"He just made every day, a day to look forward to," Jett's friend a colleague Dante Lamarti said.
The void he left has left his friends devastated.
Pictures of Jett lit up the room at his memorial Thursday, at 42 North Brewing Company in East Aurora.
Lamarti said Jett's kind demeanor is what he loved about him the most.
"Jett was one of the kindest, purest souls I had ever met in my entire life. He was unapologetically himself. There was nothing you could do or say to get him to be anything that he wasn't already. The kid was unique, very special and there will never be another Jett," Lamarti explained.
Danielle Steck said it was his dry sense of humor.
"He made a lot of jokes that maybe a lot of people wouldn't understand. He just always made you feel seen and special," Steck shared.
Their time with him at Left Coast Taco was short; just one and a half years.
Steck remembers Jett's first two weeks on the job and how he cut his leg on broken glass while taking out the trash.
Steck said, "He ended up getting 7 or 8 stitches. He laid down on the kitchen floor and he just didn't know what to do. I was like, 'What are you doing lying on the floor?' I asked if he had health insurance and he said, 'I don't know'. I'm like 'Well, how old are you?' and he's like '18'. I'm like 'You have health insurance.'"
Morgan Mann told me they also knew how much cooking with his dad meant to him.
"This summer, I know him, and his dad were making bagels. We would all go to the markets they had and buy bagels. He'd come to pool parties with us. We had a beach day together, a few of us," Morgan Mann said.
Now they hold on to those cherished memories of Jett through pictures and notes.
He was a coworker who became part of their chosen family.
"To see him grow at work and then to see him outside of work, just having fun with all of us, it really felt like family. I feel like we're all family so to have Jett be a part of that, it was special," Mann said.
A GoFundMe created to support the Hamann Family in their grief has surpassed its goal of $10,000. It has now reached more then $16,000 in four days.
