A community who loved him honored 10-year-old Tate Buening, who died one week ago today at the hands of his own father.
Friends and family members all gathered to remember Tate on a softball field in Alexander City. The very same field his mother, Kayla White, used to play softball on more than 16 years ago.
"To see one of our own hurting and this tragedy that happened and the loss of her son Tate, and we just want to make sure that she knows Tate's name is going to be honored," says Pam Robinson, Kayla's old softball coach.
Robinson is still coming to grips with the tragic loss of her former athlete's son.
"It's just a tragedy that shouldn't have happened," says Robinson.
The position Kayla used to play became a memorial for her son taken too soon.
"It has been a shockwave that has, you know gone across our entire community of Alexander City," says Anna Patterson, Benjamin Russell High School 2005 Class President.
Although Kayla couldn't attend as she's preparing for her son's memorial service in Madison, her old teammates had a message for her.
"We're going to keep your son's name alive, we're going to keep his memory alive. That's a guarantee," says Kayla's old teammate April Yarborough.
Doing that with Tate's Tap. His name will soon to be forever engraved in the field's dugout.
"Every single softball team now will tap on his name before they go out to play softball," explains Robinson.
An honor that Tate's grandmother does not take lightly.
"It just really touches my heart that he's going to be remembered forever," says Tate's grandmother Louann Moseley.
So Tate's light can live on without him.
"The world is a little less bright without him in it," says Moseley.
Tate's mother, Kayla, is holding a celebration of life Saturday night from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Legacy Chapel Funeral Home in Madison. She's asking everyone to wear bright happy colors to represent her son's personality.
