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American Fork football player had been ‘so excited’ for school dance before the crash that took his life

Family and friends celebrated his life at a vigil Saturday night.

(Photo courtesy the Smith family) Keaton Smith

As Rebecca Smith endured every parent’s nightmare, she did it with an outpouring of community support.

Keaton Smith, a 17-year-old American Fork High School senior, died Friday, less than a week after he was thrown from a vehicle in a rollover crash in Pleasant Grove. On Saturday, the school played host to a vigil in his memory.

“The support that we have received is what has brought us through this,” said Rebecca, Keaton’s stepmother. “And Keaton is a big part of what is getting us through this. We know he is OK now.”

Keaton, a linebacker for the American Fork Cavemen, had been with his date and another couple about noon Nov. 18 when a vehicle pulled out in front of them near 530 West and 1100 North, Pleasant Grove police Sgt. Domonic Adamson said. Police cited the driver of the other vehicle with making an improper turn, Adamson said.

The vehicle rolled, and Keaton was ejected, Adamson said. He was pronounced dead at Utah Valley Regional Hospital in Provo on Friday.

Keaton — who wasn’t wearing a seat belt — was the only one seriously injured in the crash. Rebecca said police haven’t yet provided details of the crash, but the specifics haven’t been on her mind. She holds no animosity toward the driver, she said.

Rebecca said Keaton was a kind, loving kid who loved to play football and spend time with his little brothers.

“Overall, he just wanted to be the difference: change the world and just show kindness,” she said. “And he did that to the very end. That’s really who he is.”

Keaton spent the morning of Nov. 18 the way high school kids do in the movies: glowing with that intrinsic feeling of youthful excitement. He had been asked to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance that night.

“He was so excited,” Rebecca said. “So, so excited. He couldn’t wait to go. He got up real early just to get ready.”

Keaton and his date started the day with breakfast at the house of a friend who was going to the dance. They were on their way to The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center, a spaceship simulator at Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove, when the crash occurred, ejecting Keaton from the vehicle and causing severe brain trauma.

Rebecca found out almost immediately. The other teens in the car called their parents, who in turn called Rebecca. She raced to the hospital, where her son was in a coma and on life support. Doctors quickly ushered Keaton into a four-hour surgery.

That’s when the support started flooding in, first with hospital workers. Rebecca said the Utah Valley Regional Hospital medical team staff did everything in their power to keep Keaton alive as long as they could.

“We know that that time was saved for us to have family and friends to see him at the end,” Rebecca said, adding that the days beside Keaton’s hospital bed with her husband, Kirk Smith, made saying goodbye easier. Keaton’s older sisters and brothers-in-law also were there, as were Chalyce and Kyle Coomes, Keaton’s mother and stepfather.

Outside the hospital, the support was just as strong. A Facebook page, “Pray for Keaton,” and a GoFundMe page were created on his behalf, as well as posts from American Fork High School’s Twitter account. As of Saturday evening, $5,320 had been raised to help with medical expenses.

“We had his friends ... each individually come in with Keaton and share some time with him,” Rebecca said. “It devastated them. It devastated the community as well.”

Keaton had been in an intensive care unit since the crash and underwent at least two surgeries to deal with the head trauma. As the week progressed, he began to decline.

On Friday, Keaton died. The family announced his death on Facebook and thanked the community for its thoughts and prayers. Without that support, Rebecca said, the past week would have been far more trying. She knows her family won’t have to endure the lingering grief alone.

“It shows just what change Keaton made in their lives,” Rebecca said. “But they need to know what change they have made in our lives.”