Guys, Just wanted to post this and ask for your prayers. This is an article in todays Ashland, KY Paper:
Couple’s life together was just beginning
Brandon Webb’s college roommate, new bride killed
By MARK MAYNARD
The Independent
A former Kentucky baseball player who was an ex-roommate of major leaguer Brandon Webb was among the 49 killed when a commuter jet crashed during takeoff Sunday morning at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington.
Jon Hooker and his new wife, Scarlett Parsley, were on the flight heading to Atlanta to connect for a honeymoon trip to California. They were married before 300 friends and family members Saturday night, according to former Kentucky baseball coach Keith Madison, who was in attendance.
The bride-to-be had arrived in a horse-drawn carriage for a fairy-tale wedding to Hooker at Lexington’s Headley-Whitley Museum.
“It’s so tragic because he was so happy last night,” Madison said. “It’s just an incredible turn of events. It’s really painful.”
Webb’s parents, Philip and Dreama Webb of Ashland, also attended the wedding. Brandon Webb learned of the tragedy prior to Arizona’s game with the Los Angeles Dodgers in Phoenix on Sunday.
“You never expect anything like this,” Philip Webb said. “He and Brandon were best friends. They roomed together (in a dorm) and had an apartment together in college. Their last year, they had an apartment and I had to go down and clean it after Brandon got drafted and Jon signed a free-agent deal. They had two dogs in the apartment so you can imagine what it was like.”
When Brandon was in the minor leagues, he spent some time with Hooker in the London area during the offseason. Hooker had lost his father at an early age in a car wreck, Philip Webb said.
The news came to Brandon on Sunday through Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, who called him into the office and told him what happened. “He told Brandon he didn’t want him hearing it any other way,” Philip Webb said.
When asked how Brandon took it, his father hesitated for a second and then said “Not good.”
Webb is scheduled to pitch tonight against San Diego but his father wasn’t sure what his son was going to do.
“I’m not sure if Brandon knows what he’s going to do,” Philip Webb said.
The wedding on Saturday night was spectacular, Philip Webb said.
“For some reason, last night one of the songs that they played was ‘It is Well With My Soul.’ It was kind of strange at the time because you don’t hear that much at weddings. But, like Dreama said, it was like a testimony right there.”
The 27-year-old Hooker pitched at Kentucky from 1998 to 2001, posting a 5-5 career record with a 3.23 earned run average. He signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago White Sox in 2001 and played professionally for Independent League teams in Fargo, N.D., and Joliet, Ill., before going back to his hometown of London.
Hooker played for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks from 2002 to June 2004 when he was traded to the Joilet JackHammers. He was a member of the RedHawks’ league championship team in 2003.
RedHawks general manager Josh Buckholz called Sunday a “sad day for Fargo.”
“Jon was a class guy and a great guy to have in Fargo,” he said. “He touched a lot of people’s lives. He was a fantastic teammate, he was a wonderful representative of our ballclub.”
Buckholz said nine members of the RedHawks roster, coaching staff and clubhouse staff were around when Hooker was with the team.
“There are a lot of people who knew him and loved him, and are dealing with this today,” Buckholz said.
There was a moment of silence prior to Sunday’s RedHawks game.
While at Kentucky, Hooker played not only with Webb but also Joe Blanton of the Oakland Athletics.
Hooker was working as a parole counselor and social worker while Parsley was in graduate school at Kentucky after graduating from Centre College, where she was also a cheerleader.
Philip Webb said Brandon has lost a dear friend. He said he gets choked up thinking about it.
“WSAZ was showing some clips of Jon at Kentucky and on one of those Brandon was giving him a high-five,” Philip Webb said. “Whenever you saw one, you saw the other at the school.”
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Donny. Puts it all in perspective. My prayers go out to the families of that young couple.
It's a real tragedy and my prayers go out to all of the families. While we were getting ready for church, we watched it all unfold on the Lexington news. Kentucky is a pretty small place and when something like this goes down, you can bet you will know or know someone that knows someone that is involved. Thanks for the prayers bro.
Post a Comment