SPANISH FORT, Ala. (WKRG) — The Blackmon house was packed Wednesday night. Parents in the kitchen. Kids at the table.

They were all there to talk about their dear friend, John Avery Blackmon, one of three teens that died in Sunday’s crash in the Whitehouse Fork community near Bay Minette. The other two: Blayne Shackelford and Ty Drinkard.

“I open my heart and home to these kids, and I want to grieve with them,” said his mother Cheyanne Strickland.

As the boys sat in the dining room, they quickly got to talking and laughing about their favorite memories with John Avery. At first, it was all inside jokes, high school shenanigans.

But you could tell there was a weight in the room. Given that the guy at the heart of their conversations wasn’t at the table with them, and never would be again.

“From now on, everything we do is gonna be for those three guys. I think I speak for all of us.”

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