Family man, fashionista, soccer lover. The stories of 3 killed in Jasper County crash

In the weeks since a crash in Jasper County killed three, the Lowcountry’s loss is palpable.

Gone are a “silly spirit” and father of five from Hardeeville who lifted people up. A soccer lover and University of South Carolina Beaufort student who was a loyal friend. Another USCB student, a Pennsylvania transplant who lit up every room she was in and loved her seven siblings.

The Dec. 4 crash, still under investigation by the S.C. Highway Patrol, took Herbert “Junior” Parker, 35, of Hardeeville, who died at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah the day after the crash, said Jasper County Coroner Willie P. Aiken III and Highway Patrol Trooper David Jones.

It took JonPaul Gonzalez, 19, of Bluffton, and Madison Klepesky, 18, of Pennsylvania, who both died at the scene.

Parker was driving north on Old Charleston Highway in a 2017 Nissan Altima around 10:30 p.m. Klepesky, driving a 2017 Hyundai with Gonzalez as her passenger, was trying to cross Old Charleston Highway to continue on Becks Fairy Road, Jones, the trooper, said.

The two cars veered left off the road and hit several trees, Jones said.

Weeks later, their loved ones recall what they miss most.

Family man

Parker’s cousin, Sheeda Kapri, will forever remember his “silly spirit” and how he lifted people up. He loved gathering with friends several times a week to grill, play basketball and cards.

“If he was in the room, you knew he was there,” Kapri said. “He wasn’t shy at all. He was very approachable because he was so friendly and very welcoming to others.”

Parker, who was the life of the party, grew up in Hardeeville, Kapri said, and was always the “clown” when the cousins got together over winter and summer break at their grandmother’s house. Parker was a doting father of five children, three boys and two girls.

“He was big on his family,” Kapri said. “My favorite thing about him was how he was as a father. He was very involved in his children’s lives.”

Parker’s partner of over 15 years, Toyia Johnson, is “doing the best that she can” in the wake of the accident, Kapri said, and still “needs to take in what happened.”

Kapri will always cherish the time her mother took her and Parker to Myrtle Beach for vacation. She was in middle school, and he was in high school, when she and her mother drove from Raleigh, North Carolina, to pick him up in Hardeeville.

The three stopped to play at a bingo hall on their way to Myrtle Beach. Kapri’s mother was on a winning streak, and every time she won, she would give both of them money. They couldn’t stop laughing. The trip, Kapri said, made Parker feel special, and he appreciated that they would drive so far to spend time with him.

“You couldn’t be around him and be sad,” Kapri said. “And if you were, he was going to try and find a way to cheer you up.”

Best friend to so many

JonPaul Gonzalez was finishing up his first semester as a student at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, his mother, Christina Galbreath-Gonzalez, said. He was studying hospitality, like his mother, and hoped to travel. In July, he built houses during a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. But he really wanted to see Portugal.

“He was funny and a best friend to so many,” Galbreath-Gonzalez said. “He was good about doing little things to let his friends and family know he cared.”

Gonzalez had played soccer since he was 4, his mother said, and immersed himself in the sport, playing FIFA video games and refereeing for youth soccer in his free time.

“(He loved) his teammates, traveling and that he could share the love of the game with his dad,” Galbreath-Gonzalez said. “His favorite team was Manchester City. He loved the World Cup and qualifying games and Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Gonzalez was close to his younger brother, Brandon, the serious one, she said. As children, they liked to hide things in each other’s rooms and play pranks. Gonzalez would do anything to make his brother crack a smile, Galbreath-Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez would want to be remembered for being a good friend and for his kindness, she said. She recalls driving home one day with her son from his dorm and seeing someone walking in the cold rain.

“JonPaul asked me to pull over and asked the kid if he needed a ride,” Galbreath-Gonzalez said. “The boy jumped right in, and JP said, ‘I think we are in class together. I recognize the sweatshirt.’ He didn’t even know him, just knew he shouldn’t be out in the rain.”

Gonzalez is someone whose words people might forget, she said, “but they remember how he made them feel.”

Protective sister

Madison Klepesky, 18, of Pennsylvania had been living in South Carolina for only six months at the time of the crash, according to her mother, Jenifer Klepesky.

As a child, Madison Klepesky loved playing dress-up and clunked around the house in children’s plastic high heels. When she played with makeup as a child, her mother said, she called lip gloss “glip gloss.”

Jenifer Klepesky said her daughter was an amazing writer who loved history, the beach and singing along to songs in the car.

“She was such an amazing and kind and fun person that everyone wanted to be around,” Jenifer Klepesky said. “To be with Madison was to feel happiness and to feel carefree.”

The 18-year-old was just about to finish her first semester at the University of South Carolina in Beaufort, Klepesky said, and was studying business management with the hopes of opening up her own clothing boutique someday. She had a hard time with sewing at first, her mother said, but she was determined to stick with it. Eventually, she fell in love with “the freedom of creativity” and even made dresses for her sisters.

Being in college did not deter her daughter from coming home to spend time with her siblings, Jenifer Klepesky said. For her seven siblings, she said, her daughter would stand up to anyone and run to their defense.

“She would have slumber parties with them and would even jump into the bed and snuggle with me,” Jenifer Klepesky said. “I always worried if there would ever come a time where she would think she was too old for that.”

For her funeral, the family requested that friends and classmates wear pink. “She would not want to look down on all of us and see a sea of darkness,” Jenifer Klepesky said. The family wanted the funeral to be “lit up” the way Madison lit up every room she was in.

Said Jenifer Klepesky: “Her life should be celebrated in every way possible.”