CHANDLER, Arizona — It would be the last speech 18-year-old Romeo Alvarez would ever give. He was dressed in a blue cap and gown. Underneath his gown was a red Spiderman costume, a joke he'd reference in his graduation speech.
RELATED: 2 teens found dead in Chandler garage "Good evening, everybody. My name is Romeo Alvarez." He sounded a little nervous.
He's one of a handful of senior graduation speakers at Dobson High. Two had already spoken. The jokes that they told set the bar high for him.
His mother was in the audience watching the product of 18 years of hard work to keep Romeo in school, away from the wrong sort of people and heading toward his dreams of success. "I feel like she was a huge inspiration to him. He thanked her in his graduation speech," Jessica Alvarez, Romeo's aunt, said.
"It was dedicated to her because of how much she pushed him." Romeo looked down at his notes on the football field during graduation, then turned and pointed to the stands. "I'm also thankful for my family, but I'm especially thankful for this beautiful woman in the crowd, my mom," he said.
There should have been more speeches for Alvarez to give. Graduation speeches when he became an EMT or maybe a doctor. Wedding toasts, maybe speeches at his own children's events.
But Romeo Alvarez wouldn't give any more speeches or even see his 19th birthday. He died in what was an entirely preventable accident in a Chandler garage on Monday. His aunt said she doesn't think he even knew about carb.
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