Buckhorn students and staff mourn former students with candlelight vigil

BUCKHORN, Ky. (WYMT) - Following the deaths of three former Buckhorn School students, Annabelle Abner felt compelled to step up and bring the community together in their honor.

“I felt burdened and I was praying and I thought God, what will help our community?” Abner said. “And I just thought a ceremony.”

That need to bring people together led to a candlelight vigil at the school’s baseball field on Thursday night, an idea that teacher Valerie Dixon was quick to get behind.

“She asked if we could do something here at the school and we’re a close-knit community here,” Dixon said. “And so we were all for letting them do that.”

The three; Christopher Jaden Miller, MiKenzie Skyler Gwinn and Bobby Wayne Sizemore all graduated from Buckhorn within the past few years. Gwinn and Sizemore died due to COVID-19 complications while Miller was the victim of an accidental shooting.

“It really hits home because we’re all close together in a small community,” Hayden Neace said. “And it’s a comforting time to come together as one and just talk to each other and tell our stories. Have a good time together.”

People throughout the community joined their friends and loved ones on the field to light candles, tell stories and flash the scoreboard in honor of their friends as a small community came together in a big way.

“I’ve always been told that Buckhorn doesn’t have anything, we’re just small,” Abner said. “But we do have something, we have a family and we are the family.”

This was a moment that Dixon said was much-needed.

“I think that’s going to be, it’s going to be a relief and it’s going to be happy moments,” Dixon said. “I know it’s a sad occasion but the kids need this.”

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