Eastern KY school district cancels classes to let community mourn student’s sudden death
Many in Pikeville are mourning this week over the unexpected death of a beloved second-grader.
Andrew James Allen, 7, died Saturday at the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington after battling a sudden illness. Pikeville Independent Schools announced in a letter that all of the district’s schools will be closed Wednesday to allow students to attend the funeral at the Main Street Church of Christ, where Allen’s father has been the minister for 12 years.
A visitation for Allen will be held at the church from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday. The funeral on Wednesday is at noon.
“It’s obviously a tremendous loss to his family, but it’s a loss to all of our church family as well,” said Keith Slone, a deacon at the church and a longtime family friend. “We’re all grieving deeply with them.”
Allen was a “staple” of the church, said Slone who had known Allen for his entire life. Slone said he would often see Allen with his dad at the church throughout the week and at any gathering.
“He’s fun, smart and just an absolute joy to be around,” Slone said. “All the kids loved being around him, no matter if they were teenagers or if they were his age.”
Mental health professionals were made available for those grieving students and families that need them, wrote David Trimble, the Pikeville Independent Schools superintendent, in a letter to the district. On Tuesday, students and staff were encouraged to wear Allen’s favorite color.
“I’m sitting here with my blue shirt on,” Trimble said over the phone on Tuesday. “Blue was Andrew’s favorite color. Everybody knew that. If you asked our kids in the building yesterday, they all knew that that was Andrew’s favorite color.”
Students have been able to have “moments of calm” together in their classrooms and some have even drawn pictures of Allen, doing “whatever helped them to remember their classmate and what was so clearly a friend of so many of them,” Trimble said.
The kindness of Allen and his family have had a marked impact on the small, “community” district of just over 1,100 students, Trimble said. That was part of the reason why the district wouldn’t be in school on the same day as the funeral of “one of our precious students.”
“We live in a world where we can all sure appreciate a really good smile and a whole lot of kindness,” Trimble said. “Andrew made sure he showed that. I can tell you just in watching our kids yesterday as they responded to this situation, they recognized his kindness. They recognized his love, and they remember his smile.”