Mercersburg man takes late son’s girlfriend to prom

(Mercersburg) — Carter Brown was not thrilled about going to a high school prom, but he was still willing to go because it would make his girlfriend, Kaylee Suders, happy. 

That’s why Carter’s dad, Robert Brown, stepped in to take Suders, 18, to her senior prom after Carter died in a car crash a month before James Buchanan High School’s big dance. He knew his youngest son would want Suders to still go. 

“I think that my husband is incredible. He is just a loving and giving human. He’s truly amazing, he is a gift,” said Kelly Brown, Carter’s mom and Robert’s wife. “I know that, Carter was in college, he wasn’t super excited about going to a high school prom, but he was excited about doing that for Kaylee…so Rob didn’t like the idea of Kaylee not getting that.”

Carter, 19, and a 2017 graduate of James Buchanan, was pronounced dead the morning of April 15 at the scene of a three-vehicle crash in Huntingdon. Driving a Honda Civic at about 7:35 a.m. on Pa. 22, he had crossed into the opposing lane of traffic and hit the rear driver’s side of one car before colliding head-on with another car, according to the Centre Daily Times. 

 

After staying up much of the night before, Carter was traveling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he was a freshman studying culinary arts, to surprise Suders, her mom, Christina Nicholas, said. As she waited for him to arrive, Suders grew concerned that he seemed to be late. When Nicholas suggested that Carter had gotten stuck in traffic or been pulled over, Suders insisted he still should have arrived by then. 

Soon after, Kelly Brown called to say that she had received the call every parent hopes they never get. 

That was a Sunday. By the end of the week, Robert Brown got to thinking that Suders deserved to experience her senior prom, that Carter would not have wanted her to miss it, and that he would be the one to take her. By Monday, just over a week since Carter’s death, he called the school’s principal, Rod Benedick, to get his attendance at the prom approved. 

“It meant a lot that he kind of stepped up and took the role, because it was my senior prom and I didn’t want to go anymore,” Suders said.

Getting ready for the prom was a family affair. Suders has been staying at the Browns’ home most days since Carter died, even sleeping in his room, so most of the prom preparation happened there. Suders even accompanied Robert Brown to get his tuxedo, her mom said. 

“It was overwhelming,” Robert Brown said. “Just the experience of seeing her, in the days prior, getting ready – she seemed to be excited.”

“I think it’s really sweet and wonderful and says a lot about Kaylee’s relationship too, that she wanted to go with him,” Kelly Brown added. “It speaks to how much she is a part of our family and how much we love her.” 

James Buchanan High School hosted its prom at Green Grove Gardens. Suders, Robert Brown, and several members of their families gathered for photos before leaving together in Carter’s beloved sports car, an Audi TT. They went out for dinner beforehand at T.G.I. Friday’s, where Suders and Carter had gone on their first date. 

“Whenever we got (to the prom), everyone just thought it was amazing,” Suders said. 

At the prom, Robert Brown tried his best to fit in with the teens. He wanted the night to be all about Kaylee. 

“It takes a special kind of person to step up, especially when they’re hurting and going through stuff too. It’s nice he took the initiative to ask her and have a good time,” Nicholas said. 

 

Suders and Carter had been dating about a year but had been best friends for about three years. 

Carter may have been her daughter’s first serious boyfriend, but Nicholas said he was Suders’ other half and completed her. 

“There’s that one person that you know was meant to be for you, and that was her’s,” Nicholas said. 

Suders loved Carter’s smile. She loved his patience and his sense of humor. Their favorite thing to do together was drive around while listening to music. 

Carter knew he wanted to work in culinary service ever since he entered and placed in a cake-making contest when he was 11 or 12, Robert Brown said. He turned his newfound passion into a way to make money, running a small cake-making business with his mom. 

Carter worked at various jobs with the food service company that serves Mercersburg Academy, Sage Dining. Robert Brown said the company had told him he would have a job there after he completed school.

He was also looking forward to starting an externship at the Ocean Reef Country Club in Key Largo, Fla., working for seven months with one of the country’s top chefs. It was one of three competitive externships he was accepted for, his dad said.

 

All of this fit Carter’s decisive, independent nature. Robert Brown recalled Carter as a 3-year-old insisting on doing things without his parents’ help.

He was charismatic, too. He could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out knowing everyone, Kelly Brown said. He would lend a hand to anyone who needed it.

“At his service, everyone said the same thing, that he could make you laugh and make you feel good about yourself even if he wasn’t in a good spot. It just shows what kind of person he was,” Nicholas said. 

The Browns have endured more than just a tough month; their oldest son, Christopher Brown, died in September at age 23. It was emotional, but Robert Brown escorting Kaylee to the prom gave them something to look forward to. 

“We lost Chris in September. Seven months apart, it’s an awful lot,” Kelly Brown said. “This gave us something to be excited about. So that was also kinda a gift to have something fun to look forward to. It was big deal for all of us.”

This story has been corrected to show that Carter Brown attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, not Indiana State University. 

 

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Chambersburg Public Opinion.