Vigil for Jason Lilly Planned Friday Night

The Twinsburg community will come together to remember the life of Jason Lilly Friday night.

A vigil is planned for 6:30 p.m. in the Pinewood Gardens Apartment complex on Ray Court, according to Principal Louise Teringo.

Lilly, 17, was found .

Several of Lilly's teachers told Twinsburg Patch about the kind of student and person he was.

"Having taught Jay art for two years at THS, I felt that I knew a part of Jay that most did not get a chance to see," Sharon Misanko said, an art teacher at the high school.

Jay expressed himself and his personality through his art. Jay wasn't one of my shining artists but I knew whatever he did in class, the projects were from his heart. I remember the last project that he turned in to me was a ceramic hat that he sculpted. Jay was so proud of it but there was one thing missing - it was the red ball on the hat that he couldn't make out of clay. We talked about the hat and found a red yarn ball that we glued on top. I just remember his big smile as we displayed it in the showcase, and how happy he was with it. Moments like this are what teaching is all about.

Jessica Mason, an english teacher, said Lilly had a vibrant personality.

When I saw Jason Lilly’s name on my class roster for my senior level English course, I couldn’t help but smile.  I remember having Jason for freshmen English and he truly brought so much fun to our learning environment.   The first day of class when Jason walked into World Literature, I knew his friendly persona would, once again, light up our classroom.   Jason had a fun stride and a happy face and, from what I witnessed, he was nice to everyone.  It was difficult to be a room with Jason without smiling.  I can still see his sweet little smirk when he told me “I’ll have that paper for you tomorrow, Mrs. Mason”…and he always did. 

Jason Lilly was a special part of our English class and of our THS family.  This is a difficult time for us.  We have spent time journaling of our fond memories with Jason and trying to work through the sadness together.  Our English class created a purple banner with a phrase he often quoted:  Live and Maintain.  Those words will hang in our classroom and, hopefully, remind us of how Jason would want us to move forward.