GREENVILLE, Texas — For Hyrum and Sarah Grandy, the heartbreak is like no other. One week ago, their three children died in a car crash in Grayson County.
Still, they summoned the courage to step up to a microphone in a room on the campus of their church in Greenville to tell us what they, and the world lost.
"The light and joy they brought into our lives and the world cannot be captured in words," Hyrum Grandy said.
"I know every mother thinks their child is special, and they are, every child is special," Sarah Grandy said through her tears. "I know my kids and I just wanted them to be remembered."
On Aug. 30, at a spot where crosses for Xander, Amara and Vinny now stand, a state trooper investigation says it was a three-vehicle accident.
The initial accident report says Hyrum was driving south on US-69 in Grayson County near Penny Road with his three kids and veered onto the shoulder of the two lane highway to avoid traffic that had slowed in front of him near the entrance of a trucking business.
Troopers say his vehicle struck a second pickup truck as he drove back into the southbound lane and was hit on the left side by another northbound pickup truck as he entered the northbound lane.
After several days in the hospital, only Hyrum survived. He wants his kids' memories to survive too.
"Our kids were one of a kind. They were just amazing," he said.
"And it wouldn't be right for our frailties to impede showing that to the world," he said when asked where they were finding the strength to talk publicly about their beloved children.
Alexander, "Xander", was 14. He loved people. He wanted to be a physical therapist. His parents described him as the ideal protective big brother. Amara was 13. Her parents said she always looked for anyone sitting alone at lunch at school and invited them to be her friend. Hyrum Grandy says his daughter even slowed down once during a track meet to help a slower friend win a medal too. And 10-year-old Alvin, who went by Vinny, was the comedian of the family, someone always trying to brighten someone else's day.
"Even though they had distinct, different personalities, our kids had one common bond. Each one of them is a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ and they loved to try to be peacemakers," Sarah Grandy said.
"That's the kind of people our kids were," Hyrum Grandy said.
A GoFundMe account is raising money for funeral expenses. The communities of Lone Oak where they call home and Greenville where they attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, are rallying to help the family as they prepare for funeral services next week.
"Everybody who was friends with my children knew that they were loved," Hyrum Grandy said.
Parents suffering unimaginable heartbreak want the world to know that.