{"id":283062,"date":"2026-05-24T21:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283062\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:45:09","slug":"martin-county-high-schooler-killed-hours-before-graduation-remembered-as-a-beacon-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283062\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin County high schooler killed hours before graduation remembered as &#8216;a beacon of light&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">Dozens of friends and classmates gathered Friday night along the water in Martin County to remember Christopher Brooks, an 18-year-old from Hobe Sound <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/treasure-coast\/region-martin-county\/south-fork-high-school-graduate-killed-in-crash-on-way-to-graduation-practice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">who died in a car crash<\/a> hours before he was set to graduate from South Fork High School.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">One by one, those who came to pay their respects at Sand Sprit Park dropped flowers into the water and shared memories of the teenager they described as a leader and a constant source of support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WATCH: CLASSMATES GATHER TO REMEMBER CHRISTOPHER BROOKS<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;Chris is one of those friends that like you know you&#8217;re going to be friends with for the rest of your life,&#8221; one attendee said at the memorial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Samuel Vestrem, a good friend of Brooks, reflected on the outpouring of love from the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a testament to the impact he&#8217;s had on not only us but on the people around me,&#8221; Vestrem said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;I&#8217;d do anything to see him one last time,&#8221; another attendee said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Brooks had many hobbies including bowling, golfing, and fishing. He also enjoyed spending time with friends, working on cars, and practicing his faith.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Workson Louis-Jeune, Brook&#8217;s youth director and pastor, spoke to his character and community involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;Chris was very helpful. We&#8217;ve done a lot of community projects with him,&#8221; Louis-Jeune said. &#8220;He was very involved in the community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Vestrem described Brooks as someone who made an impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;Not only a role model for me and my friend group and everyone else who&#8217;s here, but also for the community, for our scout troop, for our church, for our school,&#8221; Vestrem said. \u201cHe is somebody who will always be there for you and just like a beacon of light.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Savannah Morris, another close friend, remembered Brooks for the qualities he brought to everyone around him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;He was loving, he was kind, he was the most understanding person,&#8221; Morris said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Brooks had big plans after graduation. In addition to college, he had already secured a job with a car company in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;He is somebody who will always be there for you,&#8221; Vestrem said. &#8220;And just like a beacon of light.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Morris said the loss will be felt deeply by all who knew him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;I think we&#8217;re all going to really miss his presence and all the qualities that he brought to our group and to the world,&#8221; Morris said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of friends and classmates gathered Friday night along the water in Martin County to remember Christopher Brooks,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-283062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}