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Family, friends say goodbye to guitarist
Casey Calvert died unexpectedly Saturday while on tour in D.C.
Related: Photos: Remembering Casey Calvert | Share condolences
Friday, November 30, 2007
Hundreds of family, friends and fans paid their last respects to a Middletown-born guitarist who passed away unexpectedly while on tour.
Some held hands quietly
Extras
as they walked through the cold from the Thursday
evening visitation, some laughed as they remembered the 26-year-old.
Casey Calvert was described by all as warm-hearted and friendly. The guitarist of the Dayton-based post-punk band Hawthorne Heights passed away Saturday while on tour in Washington, D.C., due to unknown causes.
"He was just a really nice person," said Sara Melampy, of Middletown.
Calvert's life touched not only his close friends and family, but even those who saw him on stage or met him only once.
"He was really funny and was really nice and sweet," said Brittany Chapman, of Troy.
Chapman said she met
Calvert after a concert and, "I thought he was a really good person."
Kirsti Plank said she met Calvert once at a Waffle House. She said she will remember his joyful personality.
"He had an aura about him that made you happy," she said.
Hawthorne Heights made the pop charts with its album, "The Silence of Black and White," which gained popularity with its single "Ohio is for Lovers," according to MTV's Web site.
Funeral arrangements are scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the Wilson-Schramm-Spaulding Funeral Home, at 3805 Roosevelt Blvd. in Middletown. Interment will be at Woodside Cemetery.
Calvert's family and fellow band members declined to comment as they said goodbye to the rocker who was still "a kid at heart."
The family asks that memorial donations be made to the Animal Friends Humane Society, 5225 Trenton Road, Trenton, OH 45067.
Contact this reporter at (513)
705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com.
