Six-year-old Damon Rice, who was struck and killed by a school bus late last month, loved Nerf guns, camouflage clothing, the center of Oreos and the color green.
He also loved spending time with his brother and working on cars with his dad, said his parents, Joe Rice of the Festus area and Tiffany Walters of St. Louis.
“He was a loving, outspoken protector, helper and picky eater,” said Walters, 25. “It didn’t take you more than five minutes to fall in love with him.”
She said Damon always was in a good mood.
“It was very rare you didn’t see a smile on that boy’s face,” his mother said.
Damon, who was a first-grader at Plattin Primary School in the Jefferson R-7 School District, died on Dec. 21, the last day of school before the start of winter break.
Rice, 41, said the day started out like any other day. He waited at the bus stop with Damon before school.
“I told him, ‘I love you. Have a good day.’ He told me, ‘I love you. Have a good day,’ and that was the last time I saw him,” Rice said.
He said, as usual, Damon’s uncle, Craig Galudan, was waiting for Damon to come home from school.
Galudan always watched Damon until Rice returned from work as a school bus mechanic for Durham School
Services, which provides transportation services for the Northwest R-1 School District.
The accident happened at about 3:15 p.m. on Oakland Hills Drive near Oakland Woods Drive in the Oakland Manor subdivision south of Festus.
A 61-year-old man was driving the 2000 Bluebird school bus, when Damon crossed in front of it and was struck, authorities reported.
Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District personnel pronounced Damon dead at the scene, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.
Rice said he left work and drove straight home after he received a frantic call from Galudan about the accident.
Both Rice and Walters said they are not sure how the accident happened.
“We haven’t been told anything about the investigation,” Rice said.
However, Rice said he believes Damon got off the bus and was carrying presents from the holiday parties at school and dropped one in front of the bus.
“That’s the only thing I can piece together,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s how it happened. I’m not sure of anything.”
Rice and Walters said they are not focused on how it happened.
“We’re not even trying to figure it out right now,” he said. “We are on a mission to put our son to rest.”
Both parents said the funeral will be private.
They also said they are aware of several GoFundMe pages that have been set up to raise money for the family, primarily to help them cover Damon’s funeral expenses. As of Monday, 979 people had donated to one of the GoFundMe pages, raising $47,405.
R-7 Superintendent Clint Johnston said the school district will cover Damon’s funeral expenses.
Rice and Walters said they haven’t looked at the GoFundMe accounts and haven’t thought about how they’ll use the funds.
“We appreciate all the community support,” Rice said. “It’s unbelievable that everybody pulled together and did this for us, but at this point it’s the last thing on my mind.”
Damon’s Law
In addition, Monica Johnson of Imperial, whose son, Levi Johnson, 7, was friends with Damon, has started a petition on Change.org designed to improve school bus safety.
“We would rather, instead of receiving all the donations, people go sign the petition,” Walters said. “So that way, no other family has to go through the trauma that we’re going through.”
The petition, titled “Safety for kids getting on and off the school bus,” had 11,108 signatures as of Monday morning.
Johnson said her hope is to get school districts to install cameras on the front and back of buses so drivers can better see if a child is in front of or behind a bus.
Johnson said she plans to send the petition to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and hopes to see a state law put in place requiring the cameras. She also said she wants the legislation named Damon’s Law.
Johnson said she set up the petition after talking with Levi about what happened to Damon.
She said the effort was mostly Levi’s idea and she helped him with it.
Rice and Walters said they like the petition.
“Probably the best day of my life other than my children being born is when this boy (Levi) came to me and said, ‘Look, this happened to my best friend. Let’s make a good thing out of it,’’’ Rice said.
Johnson said Damon and her son were best friends for several years.
“They don’t even remember lives before each other and they were super close,” she said. “They were like brothers.”
Remembering Damon
Rice said he plans to move to High Ridge and likely will search for a new job.
“I can’t drive down that road (where Damon was killed) every day,” he said. “Same as I probably won’t ever be able to look at another school bus.”
Rice said his son was a special boy and was known for his colorful hairstyles.
“He’s had a red Mohawk, he’s had a green Mohawk,” his dad said. “He’s had his side shaved, he’s had a mullet.”
Rice said Damon liked to imitate the hairstyles his dad sported in old photos.
Damon played guitar and drums, and he sang, his dad said
“Every time I drive my damn car I can hear the voice singing in the back seat,” he said.
Walters said Damon also loved to dance.
“He didn’t have a bone in his body that was in rhythm, but he loved to dance,” she said.
Rice said Damon already knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“He wanted to join the military, wanted to be a police officer or a firefighter, as long as he was helping people,” Rice said.
Walters said Damon also thought about working on trash trucks and even dressed as a Waste Management worker for Halloween in 2019.
She said he dressed as a ninja last Halloween.
Both Rice and Walters said Damon and his brother, Jaxon, 2, were inseparable.
Walters said Jaxon was always waiting for his big brother, or “Bubby.”
“Jaxon couldn’t read a clock, but he knew the schedule,” she said. “He knew what time Bubby had to walk out the door for school. He knew what time Bubby was going to be getting off the school bus and when dinner was.”
Walters said she will always remember how caring her son was.
“The first time he rode his school bus, by the time he was getting off the bus that afternoon, he knew all the kids’ names and said goodbye and hello to each and every one of them,” she said.
Walters said she lived in House Springs for several years as a child and attended Northwest R-1 schools. Rice said he grew up in Chesterfield.