On Jun 28, 10:36 pm, Anonymous Sender
wrote:
don't most humans finish the first grade at age 6?

Family members recall happy, helpful first-grader
By Jessica Heslam, Michele McPhee and Laurel J. Sweet
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - Updated: 10:33 AM EST

Born into a troubled Dorchester family rife with gangbangers and marred by violence, 8-year-old Laquarrie "Cory" Jefferson was a shining star of hope until his life was snuffed out with a single bullet inside his Dorchester home Sunday night.

"He was just a beautiful little boy. He was so smart and he was so intelligent," his cousin, Daisy Jefferson, said through tears. "He's been through so much. He didn't even have a chance."

A bright boy and protective big brother even at the tender age of 8, LaQuarrie was shot dead just three days after he finished first grade at Dorchester's John P. Holland Elementary School.

"He had a beautiful smile and he had a good sense of humor," said his great-aunt, Melody Cooper of Roxbury. "He was a happy little boy."

The slain boy, who turned 8 in March, recently told his great-aunt Johnniemae Jefferson of Dorchester that he'd be glad to turn 18. "I started laughing because he just turned 8 - then he didn't even make it through his eighth year," Jefferson said. "He didn't deserve to die."

Johnniemae Jefferson said the family is so devastated and shocked that they can't eat. "He was a fun little boy," Jefferson said. "He was street wise and school smart, too."

Laquarrie's father is Liquarry Jefferson, 27, who served time for the 1997 stabbing death of a homeless man and is behind bars for a series of 2004 armed robberies. His mother, Lakeisha Gadson, 30, has a history of assaults and robberies.

"He was like a brother," said his 9-year-old cousin, Daija Jefferson, who also went to the Holland school. "He was fun. We played hide-and-go-seek. We used to go outside and play tag."

Laquarrie had a "big brother" in the Massachusetts Big Brothers program, relatives said.

Every morning, Laquarrie would clutch his little sister's hand protectively as he waited outside his home at 266 Seaver St. for the bus that would take her to preschool at Lena Park, a community-group center. Yesterday, the bus pulled up in front but didn't find LaQuarrie, or his 3-year-old sister Fashiyra, waiting for the bus.

When the bus driver called the children's social worker, Nia Sue Mitchum, she was gripped with anxiety. "He was such an all-around sweet, sweet boy," said Mitchum, who worked with LaQuarrie in the Lena Park after-school program. The youngster, she said, was an engaging, bright child who was eager to learn and create with art and music.

"I'm devastated," she said.

Before school got out for the summer, Laquarrie and other students wrote essays on what peace meant to them. The essays were hung up to form a peace train, which stretched through the school's corridors.

"He was such a nice little boy. Anyone would have been proud to have him as a son," said Holland Principal Michele O'Connell. "He was good to his classmates, helpful to other students. Just an innocent boy." [continue]http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=1008306

Shucks, another potential Rhodes scholar snuffed out in the prime.

greg

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