Remembrances from Kevin Beanland at the Memorial
Trey had a natural sense of how to solve problems and help people.
I first met Trey in the Summer of 2004 when he was a student in the Calculus II class I was teaching as a graduate student at USC. I was 23 at the time and he had just turned 24. On the first day of class, I decided that to better learn students' names I would have a seating chart. This placed Charles Millender III in the back of the class. He took one look at me, sized me up, and decided he was going to sit in the front. And he did.
His grade was well over 100% in the class and he was by far the best student. He remains one of the best students I have had in 17 years of teaching. Within two weeks of the four-week class, I dropped the facade of being his professor and we started grabbing lunch at Beezer's every day. We became fast friends and hung out regularly after the class was over.
He later declared as a math major because I pushed him towards it. I don't think he ever completely forgave me for switching him from engineering! I believe he could have majored in anything in college and he just happened to take math first.
Everyone that knew him knows that he was smart. But he was not just smart he was brilliant.
Trey made people around him feel special and feel safe. I have countless stories about Trey going above and beyond to help his friends and family. The story I will share happened in the Summer of 2005. My wife Rachel and I were adopting a baby boy--Gabriel--from Guatemala and had the opportunity to foster him while the final paperwork went through the courts. We decided that I would go to Guatemala to be with him for the first shift and Rachel would arrive later. For a week I was going to be on my own with a two-month-old baby. It was a terrifying thought! Trey stepped up to help and, on his own dime, flew to Guatemala to be with me for that week. He got up at night for feedings and did everything he could to help me out. It was quite a sight to see Trey and I walking around Antigua pushing the 7lb baby in a stroller. He was a lifesaver for me and his being there for me that week was one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me.
After the week was up, my mom arrived to help and Trey and I got a day to explore the area. He decided we should rent dirt bikes and, as usual, he would be the guide. In the end, he rented a dirt bike and I rented and moped. We went out on the open road and all around the surrounding villages. At some point coming down a dirt road I slipped and took a spill on the moped. Trey doubled back to help me and, of course, patched me up with at first aid kit he brought. He told me when when I tell the story of the crash instead of saying that "I fell off the moped" I should say "I had to lay the bike down." Trey was a lot cooler than me.
This is such a terrible blow. My heart is broken for Sam, Matthew, Cam, Franchelle, and everyone that he loved and who loved him.
Trey was a romantic (sometimes a cheesy one) and an idealist. He struggled in his life to be a good man. He wasn't perfect, but none of us are. I'm a better person for having known him even for a short time.
Thinking of him reminds me how much more we could all do for those around us we love. He reminds me to be helpful and to serve others. Don't just stand around.
I hope that will be his legacy.