{"id":9696,"date":"2012-03-10T19:19:28","date_gmt":"2012-03-11T03:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=9696"},"modified":"2014-03-01T18:37:37","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T02:37:37","slug":"hundreds-say-goodbye-to-beau-and-jeff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/03\/10\/hundreds-say-goodbye-to-beau-and-jeff\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds say goodbye to Beau and Jeff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A crowd of more than 300 came to a memorial service Saturday for Jeffrey Gilstrap (top left) and Beau Fluker (top right). Both men died on Feb. 26, when the vehicle they were riding in collided at an intersection with a suspected DUI driver.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 More than 300 friends, family members and coworkers came out Saturday to say their final goodbyes to Beau Josh Owen Fluker<\/strong> and Jeffrey Gilstrap<\/strong>, the two Walmart employees who lost their lives in a car crash on Feb. 26.<\/p>\n

The joint memorial service was held at Grace Chapel in Lancaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not mourning their deaths, we\u2019re celebrating their lives,\u201d Pastor Mark Schweitzer told the crowd. \u201cBecause these guys lived wonderful lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The celebration began around 10 a.m. and lasted till around 12:30 p.m. During that time, attendees heard from the people who knew Beau and Jeff best.<\/p>\n

Beau was a kind, gentle, soul who would go out of his way to help anyone and had no enemies, said his best friend of many years, Nicholas Gallagher.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was willing to help anyone, it didn\u2019t matter who they were or the color of their skin,\u201d Gallagher said. Gallagher recalled a time riding in Beau\u2019s car when a homeless man tapped on the window and asked for a lift to the shelter up the street. He said Beau told the man to jump in the back seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just the type of person he was, he would help anybody,\u201d Gallagher said, adding that he would miss the many conversations the two had about life. Gallagher implored audience members to cherish their loved ones as if there was no tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dozens of friends and coworkers shared memories of both men at the memorial service.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou should reach out to the people in your life and tell them you love them because they won\u2019t be here forever\u2026\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cOne more moment with Beau would have never been enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff was a loyal and generous man who made many sacrifices for the people he loved and asked for nothing in return, said his best friend of many years Nicolas Nahin. He said Jeff took him in when he was homeless and never asked him for a penny in rent.<\/p>\n

Nahin also said Jeff had a healthy sense of humor and was known for good-naturedly teasing his friends to see how far he could take it. Audience members chuckled as Nahin recalled how Jeff got his job in Walmart\u2019s photo department, after months of job hunting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said \u2018I told them I knew about photo,’ and I said \u2018But you don\u2019t know about photo!\u2019\u201d Nahin recalled. He said Jeff spent half the night on Wikipedia researching photo before his first day of work. Then he came home from work the next day and said \u2018I fooled them!\u2019<\/p>\n

Beau\u2019s younger brother, Victor, was visibly emotional as he spoke of how much Beau meant to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked up to him, he made me the person that I am today,\u201d Victor said.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone said it was God\u2019s choosing, but I don\u2019t believe it was him and Jeffrey\u2019s time to go\u2026 I miss him so much\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff\u2019s younger brother Stephen also spoke of his loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to sound selfish,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cBut I would hug him as hard as I can if I could just see him one more time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The mothers of both men did not speak at the memorial, but put their thoughts in writing instead. View Leona\u2019s message about her son Beau here.<\/a> View Linda\u2019s message about her son Jeff here.<\/a><\/p>\n

The memorial service also featured photo slide shows that took audience members on a journey through the men\u2019s lives \u2013 from childhood to adulthood.<\/p>\n

As the service came to a close, members of the audience were invited to share stories about Beau and Jeff at one of two microphones in the front of the room. Dozens of audience members waited their turn to share how Jeff or Beau had touched their lives in some way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was happy, he lived happy, and he will forever be happy,\u201d said Jason of his friend Beau.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff is a selfless guy and I will never forget him for the rest of my life,\u201d said Myron Castro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey touched so many people\u2019s lives in a positive way, and they will continue to touch lives,\u201d said Clarence Winn, who managed both men at the Walmart on Valley Central Way. \u201cGod did not take them from us; he gave them to us for a short time\u2026 these two young men were definitely a blessing to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read related stories here:<\/p>\n

Man charged with murder in fatal DUI crash, bail set at $2 million<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Family, coworkers remember men lost in alleged DUI crash<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alleged DUI driver kills two in Lancaster<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 More than 300 friends, family members and coworkers came out Saturday to say their final goodbyes to Beau Josh Owen Fluker and Jeffrey Gilstrap, the two Walmart employees who lost their lives in a car crash on Feb. 26. The joint memorial service was held at Grace Chapel in Lancaster. \u201cWe\u2019re not mourning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}