The Georgia College and State University community remembered two of their own Monday night, Alex Delor and Johnny Harof. The freshmen died less than two weeks ago in a car wreck.
With their entire adult lives before them, Delor and Harof, lost the opportunity to finish college, have a family, or advance into a successful career. GCSU students and faculty celebrated their lives and shared fond memories of the two young men.
“He meant the world to me man. He was like a brother. His family was like a second family. It was like without him I’m not whole,” said Josh Mendzf of Lawrenceville and best friend of Alex Delor.
A piece of Mendzf disappeared when he lost his best friend, Alex Delor. Delor and fellow GCSU classmate Johnny Harof died in a car wreck less than two weeks ago. The two freshmen were in the back seat of a mini cooper when the driver lost control on North Columbia Street, propelled into a wooded area, then crashed back first into a tree. The accident shocked the Georgia College community.
“Any time you talk to him he just talked to you like you were his best friend. He’d smile at you in the hall and he was just a sweet heart,” said Taylor Stephens, a friend of both of the boys.
More than 200 students, faculty and friends from GCSU and Collins Hill High School gathered to remember Delor and Harof, a testament of their impact on the campus in such a short season.
“They were only here for about a month and a half, but extraordinarily outgoing. They were the type of students, both of them, who other students would seek out for a listening ear and so they made an awful lot of friends,” said Bruce Harshbarger, GCSU Director of Student Affairs.
Now those friends and family members cherish memories and try to heal.
“We’re like a family now and I don’t honestly for me personally it still hasn’t fully gone through that this has happened yet and I’m sure it will take a long time for it to set in. But it’s made all of us stronger and closer which is I guess a good thing,” said Stephens.
GCSU presented both families with honorary certificates to recognize their time spent at college this fall. Also GCSU is setting up scholarship funds in honor of the boys.