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I have read receipts on the emails, and neither of them have opened the messages. That was my concern. But I do agree, their wishes are absolutely the most important. I know his sister was very worried about his feeling he wasn't loved, which is why I thought the bench sounds so great. But if I don't hear from them by Friday, I will go ahead and send the entire donation to Life Gift, per their wishes. I just want to make sure I'm 100% transparent with everything, especially after the drama with the other Texags gofundme this week.

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Thank you for being a genuinely good person. People like you make this community great!

Total raised 4,753.00 This is such a caring community, one that I am proud to call home.

Final reminder, memorial service 8 30 tomorrow morning at the Exxon station, weather looks great

I know this is a bit of a long read, but maybe it will mean something to someone or give a little idea to so many that have shown support, what kind of person Kevin truly was.....Times like these really do make me proud to be a native of Bryan/College Station. Yes B/CS, because when I was growing up B/CS in my eyes was all one big community.
Anyhow, This thread and post and comments on Facebook and in The Eagle and KBTX showing people going above and beyond to pull things together for him and then for his memory has been so wonderful to witness.
Kevin was our friend. My husband and I have known Kevin for just about 9 years. We knew him because of my husband's addiction to coffee. Over the years we just kind of formed a real friendly relationship with Kevin. It is actually kind of crazy too, because Kevin was a sweetheart, but you had to get to know him to really know that. He was a jokster and he could be really sarcastic at times and people would take him wrong, my husband included. One of our first visits to the store early one morning, Kevin said something that my husband didn't care for and hubby took his own dig back at Kevin. I was like UH-OH, we probably need to get out of here. As we were walking out of the store, hubby says, "well that was a bit sarcastic" and he immediately didn't care for Kevin. Next morning, I was trying to think of a different stop for coffee, not wanting a repeat of the morning before, but there really was nowhere else (with good coffee) on our route, so I pulled in and took my chances. It pretty much was the same as the morning before and was thinking yep, this is our last time here, will just have to find somewhere else, because I was really thinking this would just escalate into something much worse if we continued to patronize that store in the mornings. However, at one point, while Kevin and hubby were taking their morning jabs at each other, I looked over at Kevin and saw this smirky grin on his face and I swear a little gleam in his eyes and I seen something different about him that morning. I don't know what it was, but I just had a different vibe about him. We walked out of the store and hubby, same spill as morning before and I stopped him and said "you know I think he is okay, I don't think he is being sarcastic at all, I think he is joking and teasing, but it just comes off that way." Hubby was like yeah okay, me knowing he wasn't agreeing with me. However after that day, I guess maybe hubby thought about what I said, next morning we go into store, starts off about the same as the first 2 mornings, but then next thing I know Hubby and Kevin are laughing and cutting up and joking and laughing with each other, sarcastically I might add, but from that day on, there was a friendship between the 3 of us. It never extended beyond us visiting the store, but we would go out of our way to go there just because of Kevin. You could stand there and talk to him for hours and never get bored or tired. Our conversations with him were always fun and interesting and never a dull moment when Kevin and hubby were standing there together. I could be in the worst of moods, tired from not getting any sleep, just feeling up to it you might say some mornings, but I never walked out of that store in the same mood I walked in after spending 5-10 minutes with Kevin. If I didn't walk out laughing my behind off, I at least had a big grin on my face. Hubby and I are going to miss Kevin very much. This whole thing has really been heart-wrenching for us and I do hope the man (animal) that did this to him gets what he deserves. RIP Kevin, we miss you. You did matter and you did make a difference in peoples lives, at least you did mine.

Thank you for sharing that. It's tragic he won't get to have that same impact on others anymore.

Just to update, I haven't received any response from the family. I haven't gotten a notification that they even have opened the email, though. I have to have the money sent to an account by 3/31, so I am going to have to proceed with the request to have it all sent to Life Gift. I'm going to send the donation and then post a screen shot confirmation of the email, as I want everything to be on the up and up after the incident with the other TA poster scamming people through a gofundme account.

The donation has been made. Gofundme takes a fee from the donations, which is why the total is different from the gofundme amount. Here's their pricing info for anyone who wants to check it out.

Thank you again to everyone who donated. It is incredible to see how much Brazos Valley residents care for each other.

I would like to say thank you to everyone that has shared stories and said kind words. That has meant EVERYTHING to me and my husband. I can see my brother smiling. There must have been a disconnect in regards to the gofund account. Yes, we said Life Gift would be wonderful for the money to be donated to. We are so glad that Kevin was able to share is life with two other people. If the money could be used differently and you agree, that is fine with us, too. We were unaware of any other ideas, i.e. a bench.

Again, I am reading the stories that were shared and it does my heart good. The tears still fall but the heart is happy. Why anything like this had to happen is beyond me. My brother could be bullheaded and stubborn but he had a kind soul. He was so proud of Aggie Land and B/CS. Working a graveyard shift alienates you from the normal interaction of people. He works...you sleep. He sleeps....you work and mingle. He always thought the store hated him because he had graveyard shift. He never knew it was because the store trusted him.

It will take more than an auditorium of preachers to convince me there was a reason for this tragedy.

Have a blessed day.

One more comment from me regarding my brother, Kevin. I want to expain why we did the memorial service the way we did. I, personally, believe in Celebration of Life gatherings. Too much saddness in this world. We live in San Antonio and Kevin was in Bryan. We had no idea who to contact that knew Kevin. The store offered the memorial service and invited all to attend that wanted to. There were approximately 40 people there. The tree they planted with the memorial sign was very nice. I hope to see that tree 20 years from now. Kevin will be interred at Ft Sam Houston National Cemetery where is father is buried also. My husband and I are both prior military and someday we, too, will join Kevin and my dad. Kevin's passion was WheresGeorge and those wonderful people are all over the U.S. and beyond. I told them when they have their gatherings (Kev loved the get-togethers and cruises) to sit around and remember him with tall tales, cuss him out, and then raise a Blue Moon in his honor. I told his Friday night bowling league to do the same. A few years ago when Kevin got divorced, he was very broken. He assumed he was only invited to bowl or go to the WG gatherings because of the ex. I told him to go and if they treated him ugly, to come home and drink a beer. Well, he went and he had a good time! Once a headstone is in place and next time you visit San Antonio.....stop by and say hi to Kevin. He would appreciate the visit. As I said at the memorial service....next time to you hear thunder.....Kevin and God are having a talking......don't know who will win that discussion. Have a blessed day.

Denise, I'm glad you saw this site. I didn't have your direct email, but I sent messages to your and Bill's Facebook accounts and called the number I was called from originally, and never got a response. I donated the money last week; I apologize if you would have liked the bench idea as well. I didn't feel comfortable holding on to the money any longer and wanted to make sure I did what I knew for sure y'all wanted. I hope Kevin is given justice now and you and Bill are able to find peace.