But the day that 20-year-old Nickolas Dunn died in a car accident, his brother would say there were many reasons to remember his little brother, whose passions were soccer and drawing, and whose smile would warm the coldest heart.
Dunn died at the scene of a one-car rollover at Old Howard Road and Pepper Creek Road at 3:45 Wednesday morning, the same accident that would leave his friend 21-year-old Shannon Gilbert in critical condition at a local hospital.
The car left the roadway and rolled over at least once, Sgt. Brad Hunt, Temple Police Department public information officer, said in a press release.
When officers arrived they found two people had been thrown from a gray Mazda sedan.
Desperation could be heard on scanner traffic as a Temple police officer told dispatch he was starting CPR on the young man and “to step-up EMS.”
Just a few hours before, Nick had finished his shift at the Dead Fish Grill where he talked all night about meeting up with Shannon. “They were friends, everyone was friends with Nick,” Jerrod Guthrie, a school friend, said.
All day, cars lined both sides of Beaver Loop, where the family lives, as family and friends came to offer support.
“I can’t believe the amount of people that have come by today,” said Jeremiah Dunn, Nick’s eldest brother.
“My parents have wonderful help. Nick’s godparents are here. We have so many family and friends here. They are helping us all through the grieving process,” he said.
Tears welled up in Jeremiah’s eyes as he described how his 6-year-old daughter, Morgan, loved Uncle Nick. “He was as big a kid as Morgan. How do you tell your daughter that the uncle she wanted to speak to before going on a roller-coaster isn’t here anymore?
“Seeing the way he impacted people lives is amazing,” Jeremiah said. “It’s better to have lived a short, full life, like Nick, than a long empty life. He’ll always be my little brother.”
Friends said his other brother, Ryan, just 16 months older than Nick, sat in the gutter outside their home but wouldn’t enter the house. His mother, taking the news as any mother would, could only repeat, “I have lost my baby.”
No matter what the situation was - he could put a smile on your face, Matt Whitis of Belton said.
Neighbor Wesley Mateous agreed. “He had a smile that would just light up.”
Conversations at the house among Nick’s friends stopped and started as they tried to regain their composure.
Juliann Messer, 21, remembered when she invited Nick over for her dog’s first birthday. “He came over, smiling as usual with a tennis ball for the dog. The dog had bones and tennis balls and we had the cake.”
He would make waffles before school for his neighbor, Alison. “And when it was her birthday, it was a waffle with a candle,” said Karen Mateous, Alison’s mom. “That’s just the kind of boy he was.” Alison and Nick grew up together and made the trip to Belton High School where Nick was a star goalkeeper on the soccer team.
After high school Nick continued to play soccer. Mateous remembers the time he was playing for the Austin Flyers and a ball knocked his front teeth out. He continued to play, but later had to get false teeth.
Nick’s friends said he wasn’t shy about using those front teeth as a party trick. It was part of his playfulness.
Manager of the Dead Fish Grill Jeffrey Chupik said Nick was an unbelievably great person.
“He was one of those people that everybody loves,” Chupik said. Nick had been a server at the Dead Fish Grill since August. “Our hearts and prayers are with Nick’s family and Shannon and her family,” he said.
Despite the officer’s and emergency workers’ attempts to revive Dunn, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Temple PD’s Traffic Reconstruction Team worked the scene, and their investigation will determine what factors were involved in the crash.
