A roadside memorial sits in front of the home of Andy and Lori Key at 117 Houston Road in Laurel’s Shady Grove community.

Lori Key asked her husband to place it there to remind motorists of the tragedy that occurred on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 11 when the couple’s 5-year-old son, Nathaniel Glenn Key, was struck and killed by a motorist who was passing a stopped school bus the North Jones Elementary kindergartner had just exited.

“Lori was actually there when it happened,” explained a grief-stricken Andy Key. “She was about 10 cars back when it all happened.”

Tears fill the eyes of Lori Key as she sits next to her husband on a sofa in the living room of the family’s home. A beautifully decorated Christmas tree sits nearby, a reminder of a season that is supposed to be filled with love, peace and joy.

“I asked my husband to help me put up the memorial because cars would just drive by the house and slow down when they saw the orange paint where the accident — no let’s say incident occurred,” said a vividly angry Lori Key. “It was no accident!

“If they were stopping to look, I wanted them to see more than that orange paint,” continued Lori Key. “Nathan was more than orange paint. I wanted them to see his face.”

Nathan’s face is seen on two enlargements of a portrait of the young boy, one facing both directions. The portraits are surrounded by flowers, stuffed animals, religious memorabilia and other items. An addition to the work done by Andy and Lori Key, a number of motorists have stopped to place items at the sight.

When asked how long the family plans to keep the memorial in front of their home, Lori Key gave a resounding: “Indefinitely!”



Laws need changing

Through a steady stream of tears, she noted that since the incident that took the life of her beloved son, she has learned that the laws for passing stopped school buses are not sufficient. She pauses and bursts into tears.

“What she is saying is that the penalties for passing school buses is not severe enough to keep people from doing it,” said Andy Key as he fights back tears. “The penalty needs to be stiffer and buses need cameras or something in front to help identify those who pass school buses so that this won’t happen again.”

Lori Key, who seemed to muster up enough strength to continue the conversation, said she is pleased with how the Jones County Sheriff’s Department has handled the case against the man who killed her son. She uttered the first name of the alleged driver of the vehicle that struck her son, but her husband stopped her before she could say his full name.

“I don’t even want to hear or mention that name,” he told his wife.

For the record, 23-year-old Dominic Gebben is accused of hitting Nathan as he crossed Houston Road about 3 p.m. Friday. Nathan’s older brother, Louis King, 11, and sister, Tessa King, 8, were not far behind him when he was struck. Nathan was pronounced dead at South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel.

“I am angry,” said Lori Key. “Dominic (Gebben) wanted to get home. He was in a hurry to get home. I can’t talk right now.”

Her husband went on to say that Gebben told the Sheriff’s Department that he passed the bus because he was in an hurry to get home and didn’t want to wait.

“All Nathan wanted to do was get home, too,” shouted Lori Key, rocking from side to side on the sofa. “Nathan just wanted to get home to be with his family.”

Lori Key said her son had been excited all week because the family was planning to attend a yellow ribbon ceremony on the night of his death.

“We were going to the coast for the weekend because his daddy is fixing to be deployed,” she said as her husband tried to console her. “Nathan just wanted to get home, too.”

Andy Key, a member of the Army National Guard, said he is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in March. Right now, that’s the farthest thing from his mind.



Everyone impacted

“I won’t even dwell on what happens three months from now,” he said. “I’m just trying to make it one day at a time. It’s an hour by hour, minute by minute thing.”

Nathan’s death has taken a toll on the entire family. In addition to Louis and Tessa, who witnessed the incident, the couple has two other children — Drew Key, 18 and Elizabeth Key, 4.

“Drew, our oldest son, is in the military and we had to bring him in from Virginia for the service,” said Andy Key. “How we’re doing depends on what time of day it is or when you ask us.

“Some times the kids are just fine and the next minute they are having difficulty. Some nights we are fine and then other nights we are furious and overcome by grief. And then there are other times when we laugh and smile because of how Nathan has affected people with his energy and his love of life.”

Lori Key added that her family is not the only ones affected by Nathan’s death.

“It just didn’t affect my children and me and my husband,” she added. “There was a bus full of children that had to witness what happened to Nathan.”

She also stated that the school bus driver was affected by it all, too. “It was not her fault,” said Lori Key. “She did all the right things.

“The guy passing the school bus may have taken one life, but he has affected us, the bus driver, every child that was there and their families. They need prayer, too.”

Lori Key said a few days ago they had to practically pry their neighbor’s daughter from the bus. She didn’t want to get off because she was use to getting off the bus with Nathan.

“Nathan wasn’t there to hold her hand and she just wouldn’t budge,” she said.

Andy and Lori Key want motorists and other citizens to know it is not okay to pass a stopped school bus. It is not okay to break the law.

“There is nothing, just nothing that should cause people to pass a school bus when it’s stopped,” said Andy Key. “No reason is good enough to try to pass a school bus and endanger the life of a child.”

The couple is determined to do everything they can to have laws changed. They figure that maybe — just maybe — if people knew they would face stiffer penalties they would think twice about driving around school buses that are loading or unloading children.

According to Mississippi Law, a motorist who “willingly, intentionally and unlawfully fail to stop for a school bus, clearly marked as such, which was stopped on a street or road for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children and wait for the children to cross the street or highway and for the school bus to proceed in the direction it was going” faces a minimum fine of $200 and a maximum fine of $5000 and/or three years in prison.

“The laws need to be changed,” said Lori Key. “Nathan will make a change.”



Shaw ‘one in a million’

The Keys are also pushing for the establishment of laws that would place cameras on the front of buses so that violators will be captured on video. They said that if Tony Shaw, a maintenance worker at Shady Grove Utility, hadn’t followed Gebben in his vehicle, chances are Gebben would have gotten away.

“After the guy hit Nathan, Mr. Tony Shaw followed him and identified him for the Sheriff’s Department,” said Lori Key, wiping tears from her eyes. “I think he should be an example to other citizens.

“If he had not done what he did, I really don’t know if anyone would have been able to identify the guy. He’s one in a million.”

Shaw, who has three children of his own, said he would like to think someone would have done the same thing for one of his children if they were the ones hit by a vehicle.

“I can’t say what I was thinking when I saw the gentleman, or what have you, hit the child and take off,” said Shaw. “I was two cars behind, in the company truck.

“When I saw him slow down and then kept going, I turned on my lights, eased up forward. A lady had gotten out and was with Nathan and she told me to go and get him.”

Shaw said he was determined that the guy was not going to get away. He knew the guy who hit the child was driving a 1995 to 2000 Nissan Pathfinder, but he needed to get the license plate numbers. Shaw got the numbers which ultimately led to Gebben’s arrest.

While the Key family is glad Gebben was apprehended, they say it won’t bring back Nathan. And though it’s the season to be jolly, a time to celebrate love, joy, and peace, it’s difficult for this family to find peace and joy during this tragic time in their lives. But the family has an abundance of love.

“That’s what we draw our strength from,” said Andy Key, his voice cracking. “I don’t think we could have made it without the love of our family and the prayers and support of family and friends, as well as the people in the community.

“We appreciate everything everyone has done. The prayers, hugs and kisses have meant so much to us. I don’t have the words to express just how much they mean to us.”

Andy Key said he now has a simple message to share with everyone he meets: “Hug your kids every chance you get. Cherish every moment you get with them because you never know, you just never know.”



Note: A Nathan Key Memorial Fund has been set up at Community Bank in Laurel. Interested individuals can make donations at any branch of Community Bank.