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Family, friends remember Stanford with vigil
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Rick Stanford, center, stands with friends and family during a candlelight vigil held for his brother, Keith Stanford, who was killed Sept. 15, 2009. The vigil took place on Pineview Avenue just off Glenwood Avenue at the spot of the murder.
YOUNGSTOWN
The memories remain vivid and the grief painful and fresh for family and friends of Keith Stanford, who was shot to death along with his friend David Hammond on Sept. 15, 2009.
“I miss him every day,” Nancy Stanford said of her son at the second annual candlelight vigil she has organized to keep his memory alive and to keep the community aware that neither of the murders has been solved.
The vigil, attended by about 35, mostly Keith’s family, took place Tuesday evening at the spot where he was killed on Pineview Avenue just off Glenwood Avenue. Keith had either picked up his killer or the killer forced his way into Keith’s vehicle around midnight at a store near Pineview, family members believe. He was 39.
“I still think about it. I tried to find out who did it at the beginning, but I had to let it go,” said Keith’s brother, Rick, 41.
“He is a great guy who had a lot of friends. He would do anything for anybody,” Rick said.
Keith’s aunt, Toni Ware, said she didn’t want to come to the vigil, but found herself glad she did to be with other family members.
She said that when she heard Keith had been killed she “just couldn’t believe it. You get up in the morning and you don’t think it can happen to you. Then you don’t believe it.”
“I loved him so much,” she said tearfully.
Conversation quieted as Keith’s mother passed out candles.
H. Allen Stanford, Keith’s uncle, asked the group to hold hands as he prayed that God would “fill us with loving kindness and put it in our hearts to forgive and to remember those in our family who have died tragic deaths.”
When he finished his prayer, Stanford led the group in singing “This Little Light of Mine” while sirens sounded in the background.
Keith’s mother vowed to continue her war against crime “until I’m not here anymore.”
“I miss Keith every day, and I always want him to be with us,” she said.
There is too much crime in Youngstown and too many unsolved murders, she said.
The police keep saying the DNA found in Keith’s car hasn’t come back from the lab yet, she added.
“I’m going to keep this before the community until something gets done. I wish the politicians and the mayor would come to the vigil and listen to what we are trying to do,” she said.