They were inseparable, wearing numbers 16 and 17 for Dacula High’s soccer team. Though one grade apart, they shared the same group of friends. They even double dated.
On their way to school early Friday morning, Jared Brown, driving his 1992 Honda Accord, his brother Jaison riding shotgun, turned left onto Harbins Road and into the path of a PT Cruiser.
Jared, a 17-year-old senior known for his smarts and winning smile, was pronounced dead at the scene. His body awaits burial at Gwinnett Medical Center, close to his brother, the diminutive prankster with a big heart who died later that evening at the same hospital. The driver of the other vehicle was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
“They did everything together,” said Kevin Roman, who met the brothers 11 years ago when the Browns moved into the neighborhood.
Their pastor, Kevin Harris, said that when Jared and Jaison entered a room, the atmosphere changed.
“People looked up to them,” he said. “They were the kind of kids who reached out to others who needed a friend.”
And they had plenty. At one point, said Harris, more than 100 peers crowded the waiting rooms at Gwinnett Medical as doctors worked to save Jaison’s life. He died later that night but was hooked to a respirator so his donated organs could continue functioning in advance of surgery performed Monday.
In the meantime, a steady stream of friends and family stopped by to say goodbye to the outgoing 15-year-old.
“Jaison was so beat up it was tough to see him,” said Alex Cedeno, friends with the brothers since fourth grade. “I didn’t know what to say but I owed it to him to be there.”
Even those who routinely deal with grief were moved by the scene.
“This is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to walk a family through,” said Harris, pastor of Lawrenceville Church of God. When family members prayed over Jaison’s body one last time, Harris said he broke down.
“I couldn’t be in there,” he said. “It was almost an unimaginable scene.”
A few of the hospital’s doctors joined in on the prayer, Harris said. At one point, a nurse, overwhelmed by tears, leaned on his shoulder.
“I don’t know how this family will ever get through this,” she told him.
Paul and Merrill Brown were there until the end, which came Monday morning when doctors harvested Jaison’s organs. Amid their grief, Jared and Jaison’s parents ended up comforting many of those who came to comfort them.
“It’s certainly been a two-way street,” Harris said. “To see them be so strong is a testament to who they are. They’re the real deal.”
That was reflected in Jared and Jaison, the middle of their four children, which includes a 29-year-old son living in Orlando and a daughter in the fourth grade.
“They had an impact on people,” Roman said. “They wanted to be leaders, and they were.”
Friend Zach Watson said knowing the Brown brothers made him a better person.
“Soccer-wise, they helped build my confidence,” said Watson, 17. “They helped me to learn that you’ve got to take some things seriously. But they knew when to have fun.”
Their absence cast a pall this week at Dacula High, where just 12 days earlier a 17-year-old female student took her life in the school’s gym.
“You could feel the sadness,” Watson said.
Senior Leonard Johnson, 18, who knew both brothers, said some classmates were in tears while others fondly remembered Jared and Jaison’s welcoming personalities and awkward dance moves.
Cedeno recalled a Dacula High soccer game last year against rival Mill Creek.
“Me and Jaison were so fired up because we hadn’t beaten them in a while,” he said. “I remember we prayed together before the game.”
In the second half, Cedeno scored the tying goal. Jaison kicked in the winner, on an assist from Cedeno.
As long as Cedeno has played soccer, the Brown brothers have been his teammates. Not having Numbers 16 and 17 on the field this February, when a new season begins, is difficult to ponder. It was to be Jared’s last season; he hoped to continue playing soccer next year at Georgia State University.
“I’m going to play for them,” he said. “They were the most important people in my life.”
Of course they mattered even more to their parents who’ve demonstrated a strength few can comprehend, Harris said.
“God has given them the ability to get through this. It’s a numbness right now that is certainly not immune to the great pain they’re feeling,” he said.
Harris said there’s no explaining why their sons were taken from them. Details about their funerals were still pending as of late Tuesday.
“It caused questions in my own heart,” he said. “There’s two options: Trust in a God we can’t understand or walk away from a God we can’t understand.”
The Browns, he said, are relying on their faith, so much so that they attended church services Sunday.
“We needed to be here,” Paul Brown told his pastor.
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