I wanted to share a quick personal story that I felt encompassed who Rad was as human being.
Being two years younger than Rad throughout school, I never was particularly close with him. We never overlapped in sports, any clubs or classes throughout our time at Westminster. I always knew who Rad was from afar, and viewed him as a popular, well-liked older guy, but never had a real chance to interact with him on a personal level.
The summer of 2017 I made my way out to Jackson to visit a friend, John Sanders, who just so happened to be staying on Rad’s couch at the time. I remember walking up to Rad’s front door slightly nervous about crashing in his house for a weekend, not knowing what to expect from this older guy who may or may not know who I was. The moment Rad came up to the door with a big smile on his face, any and all anxiety was gone. As I’m sure he did with everyone else who encountered him, Rad just gave off an extremely inviting energy. He made me feel as though we had been best friends for years, and I admired that about him immediately. He introduced us to his favorite spots, took time to introduce me to everyone he knew that we passed walking through town, and hung out with us late at night drinking beer, laughing at stories about anyone we both knew. He had the funniest jokes about his cousin Will who was living with him at the time. I remember busting out laughing regularly that weekend, all because of the environment Rad created. That truly was a special weekend, and I owe it most to him.
Aside from the casual conversation in passing, that weekend really was the only quality time I ever spent with Rad. Since then, it always left an impact on me just how inviting he was. Just being nice to somebody and taking the time to genuinely listen goes such a long way, and Rad had that mastered. Good people like this are not supposed to leave this earth this young, and even though I was not one of his closest friends, I will miss Rad dearly.