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Fallen SCHS wrestler mourned

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

There were no strippers at David Ribeiro’s funeral.

The teenager had joked with his best friend, Paul Cranford, that if he died he wanted female entertainment at his memorial service.

“It’s not going to happen,” Cranford reassured mourners who filled Flat Creek Baptist Church Sunday. They were there to pay their respects to Ribeiro, a 15-year-old Sandy Creek High student who collapsed and died during wrestling practice at the school on Thursday. A cause of death has yet to be determined.

They met in second grade but weren’t the best of friends right away, Cranford told the crowd of about 800 people.

“We would get mad at each other, and I’d say the only reason I was his friend was because I had a crush on his sister,” Cranford recalled.

But eventually, “He was the first of my friends to call my own grandma ‘Grandma.’”

Addressing Ribeiro’s family sitting in the front of the church, Cranford confessed, “He got in trouble a lot. But you probably didn’t know that.”

Cranford’s memories of his friend brought lots of heartfelt laughter to an otherwise solemn two-hour service that at times seemed to pause just to allow mourners to grieve.

Some in the crowd, which included hundreds of Sandy Creek students, slipped out of the sanctuary when emotions overwhelmed.

Described as a warm and outgoing boy who always had a smile on his face, Ribeiro was also remembered for being sensitive to others and showing wisdom beyond his years.

Sandy Creek wrestling coach Scott Smith, who is in his first year at the school, said he learned a lot from his young athlete in the short time he knew him.

“I could have taught him something about wrestling, but he could have taught me much more about life,” said an emotional Smith. “This has really put things into perspective for me.”

Ribeiro’s death will impact the lives of many for years to come, several speakers said.

“My brother lived a short life, but, man, was it full,” said his sister, 18-year-old Mari Ribeiro, a senior at Sandy Creek. “We’re going to miss him, but this isn’t a goodbye. This is a ‘see ya later.’”

Addressing hundreds of her weeping classmates, Mari said, “God took him from us to do something very special. What, we don’t know yet. But in time we will.”

David’s father, Altivo Ribeiro of Dunwoody, kept with tradition and spoke to the congregation in Portuguese, his native tongue.

Through a translator, he thanked God for “the son he let me borrow.”

“There were a lot of good things he did in this life,” the father said. “We can see how many lives he touched by the crowd that’s here today.”

Though David Ribeiro was born in Atlanta, his family is originally from Brazil. Relatives came from other parts of the country as well as South America to attend the service.

Farewell posters and sympathy cards signed at school on Friday were displayed outside the sanctuary.

Ribeiro joined the school’s Air Force Junior RTOC unit at the start of the year. Students in full uniform sat along one side of the church and served as the honor guard. Sixteen members of the wrestling team, who were with Ribeiro when he fell ill at practice and died, served as honorary pallbearers.

Filling the choir loft was Sandy Creek’s Select Mixed Chorus, which sang two selections.

Master Sgt. Karvellis Lee, instructor in the JROTC program, said Ribeiro’s death had inspired his students to start a project writing letters to soldiers serving in Iraq. He presented the Ribeiro family with a plaque, a t-shirt signed by fellow JROTC students, and the U.S. flag that flew at half-staff in front of the school on Friday, now carefully folded.

“If you ever give Sandy Creek High School a challenge, we promise we will be there today, tomorrow and forever to meet that challenge,” Lee told the family. “We will always be there for you.”

In return, the Ribeiro family has established the David Ribeiro Memorial Scholarship Fund to award college tuition to Sandy Creek JROTC students. Donations can be made directly to the school’s main office.

The weekend before his death, Ribeiro stayed over at his friend Paul Cranford’s house.

“My dad said it was God’s plan for David to spend his last weekend with me,” said Cranford, who told of going home Thursday night and weeping for a time alone in his room.

“I cried and cried, and when I opened my eyes David was sitting right next to me on the bed, with his hand on my shoulder,” Cranford told the mourners. “He said not to worry about him and he was in a better place. He told me I’d be there one day, but take my time. He said I’d see him again one day, but until then I’ll have him looking out for me.”

Cranford said that at school the next day, he frequently felt the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder. But every time he turned to see who it might be, no one was there.

Concluded Cranford, “For the rest of my life, if I’m walking along and I feel a hand on my shoulder and there’s no one there, I’ll know it’s David.”