RAYTOWN, Mo. — Emotions ran high at Raytown High School Monday for a student who died in a swimming accident this weekend. Hundreds of people came to a candlelight vigil to remember 16-year-old Emmanuel Palmer.
Palmer died Saturday when he went under at Lakewood Lake in Lee’s Summit. Palmer’s older sister, Natoshia, organized the vigil behind the school for him. It was full of music and stories of Palmer.
“I just needed to be able to keep it together so I could stay strong for everybody and still have a nice event in remembrance of my brother,” she said.
The event drew more than 200 people, all of whom say “Manny”, touched their lives.
“I want to thank god for accepting another angel in his arms today and I know he’s looking down on me calling me a big baby because I’m crying so much,” Dominic Marchese, Palmer’s friend said.
Many said Palmer was a guy with a sense of humor and always had a cheerful personality. They said he also had a sense of style. They said he is the reason these guys are wearing tanks and sunglasses.
The vigil was a part of the healing process for Palmer’s friends and family.
“Sometimes you need to cry. These boys play all these sports and they’re young men, they feel they need to cry and this is a time where they can all be there for each other,” Natoshia Palmer said.
Palmer was going to be a junior at the high school next year planning to play football after taking a year off to play soccer.
After the weekend events, Palmer’s sister said she now has a mission.
“This is not the first family member I’ve lost to the water and I much rather people be aware,” she said. She said the other family member was a baby cousin. Natoshia Palmer hopes to start some sort of organization to address water safety.
The family has set up an account at Community America Credit Union under Emmanuel Palmer Memorial Fund to help with funeral costs.
