By Jean Tarbett Hardiman
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- Long after St. Joseph Catholic Church seemed to be filled to its absolute capacity, they continued to stream in. They were dressed in their finest -- which for some was a black suit or dress, and for others was Highlander green.
Teammates, classmates, friends from the church, longtime family, friends and others who have been touched by a friendly, fun-loving, generous young man came out on a hot Tuesday morning to honor 18-year-old Bobby Gleason.
They came to mourn, to celebrate a life well-lived and as a way of saying thanks for the smiles he brought to their faces, the comical stories he gave them to tell and the example he provided in how to be the finest kind of son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, teammate and friend.
Gleason died Friday night at St. Mary's Medical Center after clinging to life for five days following an automobile accident. He graduated from Huntington High on June 2, and on June 10 was riding with four friends back from their senior trip to Panama City, Fla., when the accident occurred in Alabama.
Gleason's friend Chris Withers also was killed in the accident. Friends Matt and Kevin Rowsey and Eddie Paul were injured. They were temporarily hospitalized but returned to Huntington last week and attended both their friends' funerals.
Gleason is son to Robert Gleason Sr. of Wellman O'Shea Jewelers and Melanie Gleason of Clear Channel Communications. He is survived by his twin sister, Maggie, his brothers Mack and John, and his grandmothers Helen Gruber and Jean Gleason, among many other family members and friends.
Monsignor Lawrence Luciana, the celebrant for Tuesday's Mass, said he's known the Gleason family for 10 years.
The past week, he watched as the family received kisses, hugs and prayers. He watched the family reunite after Bobby was flown from Flowers Hospital in Dothan, Ala., to Huntington. He watched parents and siblings pray together.
They asked for prayer repeatedly, Luciana said.
"It was, 'Will you pray?' again and again and again," he said. "It's uncommon, and it lifted me up."
They've succeeded, Luciana said of Melanie and Bob Gleason.
"Bobby died in peace," he said. "... You as primary teachers taught your children what to be, and you had Christ at your side."
He told the congregation that he hoped they all would walk away from the church wanting to be better people, closer to God. Besides loving God, "love each other," he said. "We're really not that bad."
Bobby Gleason was a fine example to follow, many said.
Gleason was a football player for the Highlanders and was planning to play at Marshall University in the fall. He was a member of McGuffin's Maniacs (the student basketball fans), and was artistic, having had some sculptures displayed at the Huntington Museum of Art. Gleason also was a lifelong member of St. Joe, where he served as an altar server and was active in the youth group.
Dan Gleason spoke at the funeral and described his nephew as someone who could always lift your spirits and who exemplified the quote, "A stranger is just a person you haven't met yet."
On family vacations when Bobby was little, he'd walk up and chat with everyone sitting around the hotel pool, Dan Gleason said. He'd say hello and ask where they were from, and with all the charm he exuded, he probably could have gotten personal information like their income, age and body weight, his uncle said.
Bobby was intense on the football field, creative in his sculptures -- which displayed both his character and humor -- and he was wonderful with children, with whom he loved to roughhouse and goof off, Dan Gleason said.
Richard Williams -- Gleason's football coach last year at HHS -- thanked the Gleason family for the class and strength they've shown over the past 10 days, and he talked about two of Bobby Gleason's passions: football and food.
Gleason was an extremely dedicated member of the Highlander football team -- never missing a practice, never coming up with excuses, his coach said.
Gleason also took it upon himself to find buffet restaurants where the guys could have team dinners, Williams said. He relayed a story that had been told to him by Withers, who also played football.
Gleason had organized a team dinner at a Chinese buffet and afterward, approached the manager about how it went. The manager asked them not to come back because they ate too much, Williams relayed to the crowd. "But this didn't stop Bobby from finding another place the next week."
Williams said he would always be proud to call Withers and Gleason "one of our boys."
Gleason's friend Hayden Ansinelli shared stories about his friend's love for flirting with the ladies. Gleason apparently had once asked a girl's mother how she'd like to be his mother- in-law.
And Williams told a story about Gleason proposing to his daughter at the beach -- telling her that because his dad was a jeweler, she'd get a really big ring -- but not wasting much time before moving on to another girl at that same beach.
All the while, Gleason was a "good-hearted person who was always the first to take up for his friends and pick you up when you were down," Ansinelli said.
One year when they were little and Ansinelli wasn't planning on trick-or-treating, Bobby met him with a costume for himself, and one for his friend.
Ansinelli said he just regretted that he never got to tell Bobby how much he meant to him, and he encouraged everyone not to hesitate in telling their loved ones how much they mean.
"You might not get another chance," he said.
