Something Good

Friends, businesses extend more than sentiment to Boring family

Skyler Boring and mom, Amy, sit for a photo during a family gathering a few years ago. Photo submitted

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

The bill for Lifestar arrived recently: $11,000.

Amy Boring knows there will be others. Two hospitals, an ambulance service and a team of doctors are still to be heard from.

For now, Boring remains focused on one thing.

“I just want to know what happened,” she said. “I don’t even know what happened. I just want justice for him.”

Heritage wrestling captain Skyler Boring, Amy’s son, was shot and later died from his injuries May 28, eight days following his high school graduation. No arrests have been made. Local law enforcement continues to investigate. Now, the bills.

A manager at a local fast food restaurant, Amy doesn’t qualify for health insurance through her company.

“There was no insurance of any kind,” Judy Mincey, Amy’s mother and Skyler’s grandmother, said.

As Amy waits for answers, family, friends and area businesses have responded in an overwhelming show of support. The list is truly extraordinary.

“This is a story about this community, the kids in it, the parents in it, the people in it,” Mincey said.

The outpouring began right away, Jerry Mincey, Skyler’s grandfather, said. Smith Funeral & Cremation Service gave the family extended use of its facilities and discounted the overall cost. That cost would be quickly covered.

Those who attended the memorial service opened more than their hearts, Jerry Mincey said. One elderly gentleman approached him with an envelope containing cash, asking only that he remain anonymous.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” Jerry Mincey said. “‘I’m nobody.’”

The show of support grew rapidly. Vulcan Materials, where Jerry Mincey works, donated $1,100 to help. By the end of the service, local CPA Donna Walker, Judy Mincey’s employer, ensured Amy would bear no expense at all from the cremation, writing a check to cover the remaining balance.

“He (Skyler) has brought out so much good in our community,” Judy Mincey said.

They’re only getting started.

Skyler’s friends at Heritage were at work on fundraising within days of the shooting. A car wash, car show and benefit rock concert all took place within the last month, with all proceeds going to a fund to help Amy with the bills. Local lender Capital Bank is in charge of the fund. Its actions in the days following the shooting are difficult to put into words, Judy Mincey said.

Skyler bought his own car, paid for the insurance and took care of his cell phone bill while a student at Heritage. He did his banking at Capital’s East Lamar Alexander Parkway branch.

“In addition to being a student and an athlete, Skyler had been working pretty much full-time since he was 15,” Judy Mincey said.

After hearing of the shooting, Capital Bank established a fund in Amy’s name to help with expenses. With Amy grief stricken in the days after, the staff at the bank handled all the formalities, and then some.

“The people at the bank put money in out of their own pockets to get the fund going,” Judy Mincey said.

There’s the practical side, Capital Bank branch manager Samantha Goddard said.

“She (Amy) is going to have so many more expenses,” she said.

It’s more than that, though.

“Skyler banked with us,” Goddard said. “As a young man, he impressed all of us. He was funny. He was polite. He was just an exceptional young man. We just thought the world of him. He was just so special.”

Those wishing to contribute to the fund should contact the bank’s East Lamar Alexander branch, Goddard said.

His teammate had that effect on everyone he met, former Mountaineer wrestler Keegan Mattlock said.

“He was a helper,” he said. “He helped everybody. You wouldn’t even have to ask.”

The support by friends and the surrounding community not only contains more than sentiment, Jerry Mincey said. It’s a portrait of his grandson’s legacy far from complete.

“We’ve got to find something good out of this,” he said. “Skyler’s effect on this community has been phenomenal.”