A gray, overcast sky and soft rainfall set the mood last Friday, Nov. 15 for the memorial service of an American teenager.
Hundreds of friends, family and community members met in the New Life Church in Renton to say their final goodbyes to Teagan McGinnis, who died at Harborview Medical Center after being involved in a car crash near Kentridge High School on Nov. 12.
Dressed in blue, McGinnis’s favorite color, the mourners shared thoughts and memories of the boy he was and the man he became.
The eulogy, delivered by Pastor Derek Nelson, focused on the Kentridge student’s infectious personality.
Friends and family remembered Teagan’s zest for life and his mischievous nature. He crawled out of his crib on a regular basis as a toddler. He braided his grandfather’s hair and blackmailed him with photos for $10. Once, at the airport — as a child — he managed to get behind a ticket counter, pull a microphone down and speak into it.
As a young man, McGinnis proved his intelligence and keen intuition by swapping costumes during Halloween to return to each house for more candy. He then convinced his cousins that it would be a good idea to trade two bite-sized candies for one full sized, reasoning that two was always better than one.
He continued his entrepreneurial streak at the Fork Union Military Academy, where he made $80 by selling contraband soda to other cadets.
He took great pride in his car, as any teenager would, and constantly talked about what he could add to it, be it window tints or subwoofers. He constantly wanted to learn new things, and tried his hand at woodworking as well as acting and singing.
Like all teenage boys, McGinnis was fiercely competitive and a talented soccer player. “If he didn’t win,” said Nelson, “it wasn’t pretty.”
Most of all, the community remembered McGinnis’s “servant’s heart.” He put others first, they said, and made them feel important.
The McGinnis family takes comfort in their belief that Teagan’s death isn’t an end but a transition, and that “your dad needed you too much.” They have faith that he has been reunited with Jesus and his father, and that their goodbyes, for now, are only temporary.
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