On August 23, 2016, Jeremiah Joseph “Jerry” O’Keefe III passed away at the age of 93.
He was a World War II veteran, who served his country as a fighter pilot. After the war, Jerry O’Keefe continued to be one of the most respected members of his community. Not only did was he a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, but O’Keefe was also the mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi.
His funeral was filled with people – veterans in uniform, his wife, his 13 children, and more.
Among all things, however, what moved everyone was a 9-year-old boy who wasn’t even part of the ceremony.
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During the funeral procession, the O’Keefe family looked out the window to find a little boy standing in the pouring rain.
He was barefoot on the roadside, with his hand over his heart. For 30 minutes, the boy stood in the same position until the procession completely passed.
The fact that this boy would stand in the rain amazed everyone at the funeral.
So, a member of the family took a picture of the boy and shared it on Facebook, asking if anyone could identify him.
The post went viral, and they were able to find the boy.
The boy in the picture is a 9-year-old named Kaiden Wade, who was visiting his sick grandmother on that day. When his grandmother mentioned the funeral, Kaiden did not hesitate to go outside to stand in salute.
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Cecilia, one of Jerry O’Keefe’s daughters, says that she will never forget the sight of Kaiden standing in the rain to pay salute to her father. “This young fellow was the symbolism for the youth and vitality that was so present in my Dad,” she said.
After identifying the boy in the picture, the O’Keefe family reached out to him to thank him in person. They invited Kaiden to the Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, so that he could see the horse-drawn hearse that he missed during the funeral procession.
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If you were touched by Kaiden’s respectful gesture, please share this post on Facebook!