- April 19, 2024
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Students, friends and family gathered in the Pirate Theater at Matanzas High School Friday night. It was a solemn atmosphere.
Many, if not most, were wearing light blue. They were there to remember freshman Dalton Coxwell, who committed suicide the afternoon of Dec. 18.
Friends and acquaintances — some just fellow students at Matanzas — stood in front of the crowd to tell stories of Coxwell, who played football at Matanzas.
In the background, a slideshow of pictures painted a picture of the kind of teenager Coxwell was. He’s seen at the beach with a surfboard, on the sidelines for the Pirates football team and with a large group of friends, with his smile standing out.
There was crying and sniffling. Many students held each other for support. But the audience was able to laugh when the speakers told funny stories about Coxwell.
“I remember when he got me my first referral,” one friend told the audience, which broke out into a laugh. “We would always go out every chance we got, whether it was to the movies, to the park and even the bowling alley. ... I know he’s looking down and saying, ‘I got you, bro.’”
Two days earlier, Coxwell, 15, hanged himself from a tree in his yard, according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office report. His father found him.
Deputies were called to the F-section home around 4 p.m., when they found Phillip Coxwell performing CPR on his son. The responding deputy took over CPR until paramedics arrived to the scene.
Dalton Coxwell was transported to Florida Hospital Flagler, where he was pronounced dead by emergency room staff at about 5 p.m.
A cell phone was found on the ground near the tree.
Toward the end of the vigil, Dalton’s mom, Barbara Coxwell, got up to speak. With a yearbook-style portrait of her son over her shoulder, she told the audience to be strong.
“I just want you guys to realize that no matter how mad you are, it will get better,” Barbara Coxwell said. “It will get better.”
The voices of Matanzas’ choir faded into the night as the vigil came to a close.
VIRTUAL TOWN HALL MEETING
School Board member Colleen Conklin will host a virtual town hall meeting on suicide awareness at 8 p.m. Dec. 30.
Visit join.me/suicideawareness.
