| Name |
Jack DE LEON |
| Birth |
22 Feb 1999 |
Austin, Travis County, Texas  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
7 Apr 2016 |
Austin, Travis County, Texas |
- Thoughts from his mother Serena on his birthday:
Dear Jack-o-Bean,
Today would have been your 26th birthday. I found these pictures you took when you got your camera for Christmas in 2015. I love the way you saw the world. So much beauty in the ordinary. Forever missing you.
I love you boy-o to the moon and back.
Love,
Mom
Facebook SERENA GOODSPEED
I have posted several of the pictures Serena mentioned.
- AUSTIN ISD STUDENT WHO DIED IN MOTORCYCLE CRASH WILL RECEIVE POSTHUMOUS DIPLOMA
The family of an Austin High School student killed in a motorcycle crash last year will be given a posthumous diploma, but until Thursday afternoon, the family was told they would not be granted his diploma because of the Texas Education Code.
Jack de Leon was a junior at Austin high School when he died suddenly in a motorcycle accident.
The school district said because he was not a senior at the time of his death, they could not award him an honorary diploma, even though Jack's family said Jack already had enough credits to be considered a senior.
"He was an exceptional student. He loved school, he worked really hard, cared about his grades more than anybody, he was just incredibly motivated," said Jack's mother, Serena Goodspeed.
After his death, Jack's family was assured; they would still get an honorary diploma in his name.
"We were kind of told, when graduation comes up next year because that would be his graduating class, we'll definitely accommodate you, whatever we need to do to honor him and make his contribution to the school and vice versa known," Goodspeed said.
However they found out a couple days ago, offering posthumous diplomas only apply to students who pass away in their senior year under the Texas Education Code.
"He probably had as many credits as a senior; he just was technically classified as a junior when the accident happened," said Goodspeed.
That was hard news to swallow for Jack's friends and family.
"Something just struck me that, no, this is wrong. Jack deserves a diploma." said Vaughan de Leon, Jack's sister.
"He definitely earned it. He went above and beyond in all his classes ever since he was in kindergarten," Goodspeed said.
A social media post explaining the situation was quickly shared for hundreds of times and dozens of people started writing letters to the AISD superintendent pleading for the district to award Jack a diploma.
"Sometimes you feel like you're just by yourself in this, because I think about Jack every day and I don't know if other people think him too, and so, when I see all the people who come together and try to help, it really made me feel very, very good," Vaughan said.
Thursday afternoon, Serena learned that everyone's hard work paid off. "They said that the Superintendent, Paul Cruz, is going to award Jack a posthumous diploma," Goodspeed said.
"It's almost like he's kind of still here and it's just continuing his legacy and everything," said Vaughan.
Now, Serena hopes part of Jack's legacy is to make it easier for other grieving families to honor their child's hard work with a very special piece of paper.
"Hopefully this will, if this does happen to another family, the process will be much smoother and they won't be shut out and made to feel as small as I was made to feel," Goodspeed said.
Serena said the superintendent told her he will be writing up policies for all AISD high schools to follow in case this ever happens again.
Jack will be honored at Austin High School's graduation on June 2.
By Jennifer Kendall, FOX 7, Austin
Published May 18, 2017
|
| Cremation |
11 Apr 2016 |
Mount Bonnell, Austin, Texas |
- Friends and family of 17 year old Austin High School student, Jack de Leon gathered at Mount Bonnell Monday morning to watch the sunrise before spreading his ashes. Jack died in a motorcycle crash last wee. Monday, KSAN spoke with Jack's father for the first time, at his grandfather's home where family gathered in what appeared to be a celebration. And in many ways, it was. A celebration of life.
"It hurts, but it makes you happy to celebrate his life and we want to honor him" Billy de Leon said, pointing to his family's Native American heritage as the reason.
He explained after a period of mourning, "on the fourth day we stop being sad and we celebrate."
Monday marked the fourth day since his fatal crash.
DeLeon said his son, Jack, was a numbers guy, a brilliant young man who loved math and science. He described him as the best person he knew. Someone who played football, taught himself how to play piano and could solve a Rubik's cube in 20 seconds.
"We got him a 4x4, a 5x5, and a 7x7," De Leon said, talking about different sized Rubik cubes. "He would always take things as far as he could, it was never good enough, he was never satisfied."
Jack had hopes of going to MIT. "He was in calculus as a Junior in high school and wanted to become an engineer," De Leon said.
But no equation, formula or variable could make what happened April 7, at 6:45 and easier to understand.
"All of a sudden traffic just started to stop and we could tell something happened and I just knew. I felt it. I just felt this sick feeling, sinking feeling in my heart." De Leon said.
He was following his son on Grove Blvd near the Austin Community College Riverside campus, just two cars behind, when Jack got in a crash on his motorcycle.
"I delivered my son at home. He was born at home. So I was the first person to touch him in this world and I felt his last pulse. I was the last person to hold his hand," De Leon said, tearing up. He wants others to hold onto the time they have left with their loved ones.
"You think you have forever and you don't." he said. "If anybody can take anything from us, it's that we should come together in life. Not just because of death."
Grief counselors were at Austin High to provide support to classmates and teachers.
Find A Grave Memorial ID 182020729
|
| Person ID |
I_736232183 |
Robles Genealogy | Vicente Miguel Luna Robles |
| Last Modified |
22 Feb 2025 |
1999 - 2016 (17 years)
