I love you and I miss you Dill pickled. You  changed so many lives, and I am so glad I had the honor of calling you my cousin.

We went to Altitude together and had a great time. I had a lot of fun with him during sports.

You never realize how much you should cherish relationships until they are gone. The last time I saw Dillon I was about 6 years old.  After our Nanny died, our family had a sort of split and for a while, we got out of contact.  Then, around the summer of either 2023 or 2024 (can't quite remember) we got back in contact through a video message app "Marco Polo." I was able to get his number off that app, and we started texting and gosh I will tell you it felt so good to talk to him again. But now, I wish more than ever that we talked even more.  I vividly remember the day I got called out of class when he tried to take his life. I was so confused, but when I was finally able to comprehend I felt like my soul just left my body. I literally fell on the floor and started sobbing. I found out he was in the hospital, ALIVE, and I started making plans and just was filled with immense hope. I was so excited to see him and give him the biggest hug and tell him how much I love him. But that same night, I think I heard the worst words I have EVER heard in my life.  "he didn't make it." I just went limp and sobbed in my moms arms for hours and I didn't want to do anything except lay in bed and not move. I was trying to convince myself it wasn't real. I had so many feeling ging through my mind and still do. I mentally struggle with this every single day. We had connected so much over XC, and even planned to come see each other and cheer each other on at state. I miss him so much and I regret every minute that I spent not talking to him. I sitll can't stop thinking of his last words to me: "I'm sorry." I still try to convince myself it's not real. I don't think I will ever be the same. I have been really struggling lately. I miss you so much Dillon. I love you so, so much. I will never ever forget you and I still cherish the memories at the hilltop house on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the holidays. I remember always looking forward to seeing you specifially.  You were the best cousin I could ever ask for.  Makayla, Marshall, and the Hughes family, I love y'all too. You all have been in my prayers. 

I have a lot of memories of Dillon, but I'm always going to remember him when he followed me to my mom's classroom. Dillon was always stuck after school in extended-care and because he found that boring, he would follow me up to my mom's classroom. First, it was just the teacher kids who we would hang out with: Me, my sister, Christopher and Darin Malm, and Chase Petro. It was a very chill group but when Dillon came, the whole mood changed. I felt like when he was hanging out with us, the atmosphere was more upbeat and energetic. Dillon was always a very energetic person and it really reflected in his personality. He hung out with us about the entire year of 2022, I'm going to miss that kid a lot. I love you, Dillon.

A memory I have of Dillon is him constantly stealing my friend and I's water bottles at lunch. He was like shockingly good at that. It was a little bit annoying, but it always made us all laugh. He loved to tease me and our other friends not in like an annoying way, but in like a brotherly way. I have a little sister, but Dillon was the brotherly friend I needed in my life. I also remember in middle school, I would make these stupid little fake TikTok's because I liked making short videos and I would constantly be worried I was annoying my friends with sending those videos to them constantly but I specifically remember Dillon telling me he loved the little videos I made and they always made him smile. It was the little things that he said or did that really made an impact. Dillon was a good friend and I think I'll always miss him.

One of my favorite moments with Dillon was when he and I partnered up to do a project for Coach Ortega's class and somehow won the project, we got candy that day. I can still vividly remember his smile, and him being funny, smart, and creative in all of the classes he and I had together. I still remember to this day that Dillon always teased Sebastian Tate during robotic teamwork session, where we had to complete a task as a team and it made me laugh. Additionally jokingly stealing Sebastian's water bottle when they head to choir. He used to call me "Benry" as in combining "Ben" and "Henry", a Junior, as a joke and it stick to me.

Fly High Dillon,

LLDH 🕊

Dillon and the boys

I remember in I think 7th grade, when we went to the aquarium to dissect a squid I was really really grossed out about having to dissect the squid and Dillon kept teasing me about it. In the moment I was kind of annoyed, but looking back I really appreciate those little moments. Sure he was annoying, snarky and sarcastic at times, but he really truly did care for me. I wish I could have expressed more how much I cared for him. There are so many things I should have done differently and I don't think I'll be able to think about those memories without a feeling of sadness anymore. I miss you a lot, Dillon 🤍

This is one of my favorite pictures of Dillon, the light in this picture is almost as bright and beautiful as Dillon’s personality.

Dillon sent me this picture while he was on a vacation during one of the summers a couple years ago, he was telling me how much he loved these sun glasses, i remember how happy he sounded telling me about the, i always loved hearing and seeing how happy he was. 🩷

I remember taking this picture like it was yesterday, i considered and loved Dillon like a brother. We were at a rock wall field trip for choir in 8th grade when this picture was taken, I made a lot of memories with Dillon and those memories with him will always be special to me. I remember how Dillon brightened up any room that he was is, he was always able to make me laugh whenever i wasn’t even in the mood to smile. Dillon treated me better than i deserved, he was always there for me when no one else was and that is a debt i’ll never be able to repay. I am truly sorry to the Hughes family, i have and will continue praying for ya’ll. Fly high Dillon, we love and miss you 🤍

Hughes and Turnbloom/Brown families

Cydney here.. I miss Dillon so much. One thing I will always remember is him calling me, grace, and heather the “3 musketeers”. It always made me smile and laugh, was annoying at some times. I also remember the night of the dance where I put eyeliner on him, me and genna did. I’ll always remember the best moments, I miss you. Fly high 🤍🌷🕊️