Through a cascade of tears, Zackariah Rathwell’s mother, Ronda-Lee, struggled to describe the loss of her son.
Life without her eldest son has been almost impossible.
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Rathwell was the talented frontman for emerging local band, Zackariah and The Prophets.
“There was always music coming from the basement; he was constantly down there practicing. There’s no more of that — there’s the emptiness and the hole that’s left.”
Zackariah Rathwell was a genuine talent and artistically inclined. His prized possession — his guitar — allows his family to remember the times when his music filled a room.
Rathwell was one of the victims who lost his life on April 15, 2014. He and four others were killed at an end-of-the-year University party in Calgary’s Brentwood community.
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“My first memory is snipping the umbilical cord the morning he came into this world, and my last memory is being at the coroner’s office and identifying him at 21 years of age,” father Bruce Rathwell said.
“I was very proud of him as a grandson, and I just wish he could have been with us more — longer,” Rathwell’s grandmother Liz Acres said. “One of the hardest things is accepting he had to go so early. Whatever the reason, I will never understand why.”
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They work everyday at celebrating the time they had with him. Rathwell’s family recognizes the honour they had in watching their little boy grow into a remarkable young man.
“He was here, and he was important, and he was special.”