Family, friends and community members spent the afternoon honouring the life of Lucas Riley Crump during a fundraising event at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Sunday, August 3, 2025.
The second annual bursary benefit was held in memory of Lucas Crump, one of two young teenagers who died in a single-vehicle crash near Otterville in Oxford County on August 4, 2023.
“We’re here today because Lucas was tragically a victim in a car accident,” said Karen Crump, Lucas’ mother. “Personally, I don’t really like to call it a car accident because the driver chose to do 157 km/h in a 50 km/h zone and two people died, not just Lucas, but Avery Warwick [18]. So now we’re trying to pick up the pieces and turn that tragedy and emptiness into something positive for the community.”
Karen described her only child, who was 16-years-old and going into Grade 11 at the time of the crash, as an amazing person who had so much potential.
“He loved math and he was bilingual, he was actually in the French immersion program at North Park; we knew he was going to be going into accounting of some sort, whether he majored in math or minored in it, but French was the other thing too,” she said. “He loved the musician, The Weekend, I actually have tickets to his concert this Friday to go in his honour. He loved hockey and the Chicago Blackhawks, he loved the colour red and bucket hats, and he loved slides, specifically socks with slides… those were his favourite things. He just had much potential and he was just a great, amazing human being.”
Noting that the event landed on the same date she last saw her son alive, Karen said she still has a hard time wrapping her mind around everything that happened.
“I still don’t feel like it’s real,” she said. “You know, we do go out and do stuff, but I just feel like I fake it every day and I’m just trying to find a purpose to keep going, he was my only child, you know? It was so preventable… had the driver just done the speed limit, everybody would have been fine.”
Karen said that the funds raised from both last year’s and this year’s benefit will go towards three bursary awards designed to support graduating students from North Park Collegiate.
“All of the money that’s been raised will go to the Grand Erie District School Board and the school will choose each of the recipients, it doesn’t matter if they’re going to university or college, they will each get $1,000 to use for whatever they need,” she said. “This November, I’ll be handing out three awards for the very first time; one for science, technology, engineering and mathematics; another for French Immersion; and the third is called the “Bucket Hat” award. They’re not based on marks, but on Lucas’ qualities. He was an honour roll student, but he didn’t always have the best marks in everything, but he would help anybody anyway he could.”
Sporting their red “Team Lucas” t-shirts and “Lucas Rocks” bucket hats, friends, family and community members spent the afternoon reminiscing about the teenager, and enjoying several performances from The Schmoe Bros, Dan Carrillo & The Unborn Band, Corner Pocket and 50 Mission. The benefit also featured nearly 30 raffle prizes, a 50/50 and door prizes.
Overall, the mother said that while the impact of the devastating loss will always be there, she was glad she could honour the memory of Lucas by hosting the event and giving back to the community, and reminded people to abide by the speed limit.
“There’s a lot of dark days, but keeping his memory alive like this gives us a lot of joy,” said Karen. “It’s not natural to bury your child so I just want to remind everyone to hug your loved ones, and slow down on the road because it takes a split second to change someone’s life forever.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
