Tears, laughter mix at vigil for City High student

Choking back tears as he spoke, Chuck Meardon gave a warning to his fellow parents: You don't know what you have until it's gone.

He spoke at a vigil held Wednesday night for his son, JC Meardon, who died Tuesday after being hit by a minivan Monday. Hundreds showed up at the vigil dressed in yellow, JC's favorite color, and shared memories and tears.

"All you parents, hug your children and tell them you love them every night because you don't know when you'll be able to do it again," Chuck Meardon said.

JC Meardon could always make you laugh, friends said. He was an avid soccer player, set to make City High's varsity team as he prepared to enter his junior year. At the vigil, JC's soccer team returned the love he shared with them.

"We love you. We will be here to support you," Jose Michel Fajardo, City High's boys' soccer head coach, said to Meardon's family. "We will make sure your son is not forgotten ever. ... He has made an impact in 16 years that many people could not make in 60."

Fajardo presented the family with JC's No. 12 soccer jersey, and said the team will retire the number.

Many remembered JC, whose full name is Jackson Charles, as full of energy and a goofy guy.

"He was and is still the funniest guy I know," Jackson Meyer said of his lifelong friend and City High classmate.

"He was a great student and a valuable member of our soccer team. Just a wonderful young man with many friends," City High Principal John Bacon said.

Friends described Meardon as a guy who could always lighten the mood. He was beloved in the community, which was evident Tuesday when friends, teammates and family packed his hospital room to be with him.

"Yesterday, in the hospital we were there for 16, 17 hours, and there was no room in the hospital. They had to move kids to the different areas because there were so many people there. Not only from City High, but also from West High. Just from the whole community, because this was a kid who was playing club (soccer) in town since he was a very young kid. A very well-known kid, very respected, very funny, very goofy," Fajardo said.

Meyer was also hit by the van and was taken to the hospital Monday night, but he said on Wednesday that he "barely got hit" and is doing fine. A third boy was not injured.

"It's hard to pick one favorite memory with your best friend," Meyer wrote in an email Wednesday. "He was like a brother to me. I spent so much time with that kid."

Meyer mentioned memories of soccer practice, playing tournaments out of town, hanging out, playing video games, sleeping over and playing soccer.

Fajardo said Meardon played on the freshman-sophomore team but was "already on my roster for next year for varsity."

Meardon was the freshman-sophomore captain and a leader on the field, said friend and City High classmate Jonah Dancer.

"He would just motivate the guys and get them going," Dancer said. He has known Meardon since kindergarten, and the two played together with the Iowa Soccer Club since they were young.

"He was such a great person and a really great friend to me. I just remember all during elementary (school) I would always go over to his house and he’d come over to mine, play video games and just hang out," Dancer said.

Bacon said Meardon was a friend to everyone and will be missed by the entire City High community.

"I know JC was very much loved by his classmates and teammates, and this is a time that we all need to come together and remember JC and how much he meant to everyone and to support our students," he said.

"If he was here now, he wouldn’t want us to mourn over his death but celebrate the life that he did live," Dancer said.

In a news release sent Wednesday, Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said three boys were playing a game called "Hostage" and were in the road when they were hit. The crash occurred on Dane Road south of the U.S. Highway 218 bridge at about 10:39 p.m. Monday.

"The three boys were standing on the road and when the van was approaching they thought it was perhaps another friend coming to give them a ride. When they realized the van was not slowing, two of the three were not able to completely avoid the van," the release said.

KWWL reports that Hostage involves blindfolding a group of friends and dropping them off somewhere at random. They then have to describe their surroundings and call their friends for a ride.

There were counselors available at City High on Wednesday, Bacon said, and he encourages families or students who need ongoing support to reach out to him so he can arrange a session.

Pulkrabek on Wednesday said the investigation into the incident is almost complete.

The driver of the van, Julia Elgatian of Iowa City, was on her way home from work, officials said. On Wednesday, Pulkrabek announced Elgatian had been cited for failure to have a valid driver's license, although he could not say whether that meant she did not have her license on her when the incident occurred or whether the license is expired.

It is too early to tell whether additional charges will be filed, according to the release.

Online court records show that Elgatian has several other traffic-related citations on her record, including speeding and having no valid driver's license in Scott County in 2015, having no valid driver's license in Johnson County in 2014, operating a motor vehicle with an expired license in Johnson County in 2013 and failure to maintain safety belts in 2011.

Reach Stephen Gruber-Miller at 319-887-5407 or sgrubermil@press-citizen.com. Follow him at @sgrubermiller.