AFFTON, Mo. – Affton High School honored 6-year-old TJ Mister, who tragically drowned in a south St. Louis County pool while at summer camp in July.
The school paid a special tribute to TJ at a football game by giving his parents flowers, a special helmet with signatures from the whole team, and a brick laid in the school’s memorial pavilion with his name on it.
“He would feel very grateful and honored,” said Olga Mister, TJ’s mom.
The emotional moment was another reminder of why it’s so important for TJ’s parents to fight to hold those accountable for his death.
“It’s very frustrating to not know what happened to your kid 11 weeks in, or how it happened, or why it happened,” Olga said.
“The answers that we received were not the answers we were looking for,” said Travone Mister, TJ’s dad.
The family continues TJ’s legacy with a $40 million lawsuit, working with the legislature to make summer camps safer, and helping kids at the school he loved so much.
“He recently became a part of the gifted and talented program, had a very bright future. He was a very smart boy,” said Dr. Tina Been, principal of the Mesnier Primary School.
“The smiles, I’m always going to remember, just a lovely kid, a really joyful kid,” Travone said.
TJ’s family will be holding a fundraiser on November 6 at a bowling alley to collect money for a memorial bench at the St. Louis Zoo as T.J. loved animals.
His family hopes the bench will keep a living piece of him in one of his favorite places to be remembered forever.
The fundraiser will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at Shrewsbury Lanes at 7202 Weil Avenue in St. Louis.
To find out more information about the fundraiser, click here.