‘They still give me strength’: Community remembers Rickards High band student and mother a year after crash

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Veterans Day will never be the same for Hansel Witmer.

Last year, Hansel, his brother, Gavin, and their mother, Angelique, were involved in a car crash while on their way to Tallahassee’s Veterans Day Parade.

The brothers were set to perform in the parade with the Rickards High School band.

Hansel was the only one who survived the wreck.

Now, a year later, that same event paused for a moment of silence to honor the lives of Gavin and Angelique.

Even though Angelique and Gavin weren’t veterans, John Pantoja, the president of Veterans Events Tallahassee, which organizes the parade, said it was important to him and his organization to ensure they were honored.

“Just with the way veterans operate, we already knew it was the right thing to do,” he said.

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