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Kyle Bowersox was a fourth-generation Marine, a 21-year-old Lassiter High School graduate who taught kids how to skate, loved shooting pool and loved his family even more. He’d gotten leave last week to surprise his mom — who just had back surgery — with a visit back home in Marietta.
But on Friday, thousands of miles from the dangers of battle, tragedy struck.
“I know nobody said the world was fair,” his mother, Lynette, said Monday. “But the world is going to be a bit of a darker place without Kyle.”
According to Cobb County police, Private First Class Kyle Bowersox was driving a Honda motorcycle on Kennesaw's Busbee Parkway when a Toyota attempting to enter Town Center Mall pulled in front of him. Bowersox slammed on his brakes and was thrown from the motorcycle, which hit the car.
Another car driving behind Bowersox also struck the Toyota. Bowersox, who had been visiting a friend at a nearby Home Depot store, was pronounced dead at the scene.
As of Monday, no charges had been filed against the 16-year-old driving the Toyota. Police are still investigating.
“With all the crap that we have in this world, he was just a great kid and his family is such a great family,” friend Chris Smeresky said. “… It’s just a travesty. It’s just sad.”
Bowersox was a 2013 graduate of Lassiter High School, where he played in the band, Smeresky said. While in school, he worked at several high-profile Atlanta restaurants, as well as at Sparkles skating rink, where he taught kids to skate.
His initial attempt to join the Marines Corps found that he was too skinny — “a string bean,” his mother said — but he packed on the pounds two Boston Market meatloafs at a time. He joined up in October and graduated in April, fulfilling the dream he’d proclaimed since he was a 2-year-old toddling around the Philadelphia, Pa., base where he was born.
At the time of his death, Bowersox was stationed in Pensacola, Fla., where he was training to be an air crew chief. Among others, he leaves behind his mother; father, Kevin; brother, Colin; and sister, Heather.
A funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Woodstock Funeral Home. Visitation will be held Saturday at an undetermined time.
“He loved people,” Lynette Bowersox did. “Everything about him did.”
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