Flowers taped to a fence. Candles left burning on the ground. Words of remembrance written on a poster.
Dozens of friends and family members of Alan Mendez and Nicholas Sabina met to memorialize the boys Wednesday night. They gathered along a wall above the train tracks at the Route 23 Transit Center.
The boys were struck and killed on the tracks above Route 46 by a NJ Transit train Sunday night. Mendez was a student at Wayne Valley High School.
"There are really no words to describe something like this," said Karen Mendez, Alan’s mother. “Having everyone here, this means so much to my family. The support that everyone has been giving us is overwhelming."
Mendez’s mother said her son was just enjoying a night out with his friends when he was killed. He was a free spirit and loved life, she said.
“We were extremely close,” she said. “Having all of these people here tonight, it helps, but it doesn’t take away from the shock of what happened.”
The gathering was organized Tuesday night. Friends spread the word about it through social networking Web sites like Facebook.
Alan’s friends said he was full of life and always had a smile on his face.
“I just can’t believe he’s gone. I knew him since he was born,” said Alan’s neighbor Brianna Cinelli. “I feel like I’m still going to see him walking to the bus stop in the morning.”
Alan was an avid skateboarder and BMX enthusiast.
“He was at his happiest when he was riding,” his friend Johnny Rensing said.
Others said Alan was always ready to lend a hand to those who needed help.
“He was the sweetest kid I ever met,” said Karin Robinson. “He was so smart too. He must have programmed my television for me five times.”
Robinson’s son Darien was on the tracks with Alan and Sabina when they were killed. Robinson jumped down an embankment to avoid getting hit by the train. He suffered five fractured vertebrae.
Alan’s older sister Deanna wrote a note to her brother on the wall. She said nothing can prepare someone to hear the news that their sibling has died.
“You never know when you’re going to be told something like that,” Deanna said. “Until it happens to you, you have no idea what it is like.”
She said that the number of people who attended the event is a testament to how her brother and Sabina lived their lives.
“I don’t even know some of the people here, but the fact that they are here, that’s what matters because it shows you just how many lives they touched,” she said.
Karen said she and her husband Rod will work to lobby for better safety equipment, including a footbridge, where the accident occurred.
“Tell your kids you love them,” she said, her voice breaking. “Hug them and kiss them everyday.”
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