Friends of Walnut High School freshman Julian Lopez, who passed away two weeks ago, continue to commemorate his life and remember him from their time at South Pointe Middle School. The funeral reception was held  on Oct. 19 at Lopez’s uncle’s residence.

“Some people from our middle school were there, some people who knew him this year at Walnut High School [and] his family,” said DBHS freshman Camille McCurry, who attended with her mother. “We brought out a collage of pictures that we had of him, and we had people sign it. That was at the entrance, so a lot of people were crying and looking at it.”

A congregation of students from South Pointe sang “Lost in Thoughts All Alone” by Amanda Lee, a song which Lopez had wanted the choir to perform, according to DBHS freshman Samantha Mitchell.

Lopez was involved in choir for three years at South Pointe and had joined choir at WHS as well.            

“He was fun to be around, but his words were kind of harsh, but you could tell he was joking,” Mitchell said. “He was brutally honest.”

After the news of his passing, Lopez’s friends gathered to grieve.

Mitchell was with another mutual friend of hers and Lopez’s when she received the news via a text message. Lopez had not been present at school that day, so she attempted to call him. Mitchell then informed her friend that the text said Lopez had died.

“I didn’t understand at first, and she gave me a look like, ‘what are you talking about?’ So she tried to get in touch with his mom, and my aunt told us to put our phones down and said the news was true,” Mitchell said. Lopez took his own life.

The pair then traveled to one of their residences to mourn. They contacted others in their friend circle who had been close with Lopez to tell them the news, and the group congregated to provide support for each other that afternoon.

“I think a lot of people thought of him like he was a really fun guy. He was fun and very bright,” McCurry said.