Classmates, faculty, friends and family gathered for a visitation and ceremony Friday in memory of Caleb Wilson, the Southern University student and "Human Jukebox" trumpet player who died after a fraternity hazing ritual Feb. 27.
Outside of Southern's minidome, where Wilson's visitation was held, the day was breezy and warm. Mourners entered in twos and threes, wearing a mix of formal attire and Jaguars blue and gold.
The building, which has seen decades of Jaguar victories and graduations, instead hosted the Southern community in a time of sorrow.
Wilson's casket was surrounded by large bouquets of blue and gold flowers, as well as a stand with a Human Jukebox marching uniform. »Æ¹Ï´«Ã½ of Caleb — as a baby, as a boy standing with his mother, and as a young man standing on Southern's campus — were placed along the walkway.
Inside the lid of Wilson's casket, a short message was sewn into the white fabric: "Did you pray? Did you thank God? Smile." A checkmark followed each question.
The casket had been accompanied by Jefferson Parish Sheriff's deputies on its way to Southern.
A few parents stood with their children enrolled at Southern, comforting them as they left the visitation.
"It's unbelievable. It's a heartfelt moment, not only in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, but throughout the whole world. Because Caleb was a leader," said Dion Norman, an English teacher at Warren Easton Charter High School who taught Wilson. "Everyone loved Caleb."
Norman said Wilson, 20 and a Kenner native, was a critical thinker and a fun-loving guy in school. He spent much of his time in band, or practicing with select extension bands like one mentored by Trombone Shorty.
Wilson played baseball, was part of the cotillion and was "a comedian at times.
"It's really sad, because someone of his upstanding characteristics, you wouldn't think that this would happen to him. I knew he had goals and dreams to be a part of everything that he wanted to be a part of," Norman said.
During his senior year of high school, Wilson went on a university visit trip with Norman and a group of other high-achieving students.
After touring Tennessee State University in Nashville, the group visited the African American Music Museum. It was there Wilson proudly told his teacher he had been accepted into Southern University.
"He was very excited about Southern because he was a band-head," Norman said. "He wanted to be part of the Human Jukebox."
