Mayes County Teens Use American Flags To Honor Friend Killed In Crash

Two Mayes County teenagers died in separate car accidents in the last week. Friends of 17-year-old Taylor Keen are honoring him in the best way they know how.

Keen wore the flag on his clothes, but his friends said the flag was more than that for the high school junior.

That's why in the parking lot of Pryor High school, this truck has a flag on it.

And so does the next one. And another one. And all of them.

The flags are flying for Taylor.

He was killed in a wreck this week, with the flag flying.

“That was his favorite thing to do,” friend Hayden Richards said. “He had one in his truck and he always wanted us to have one, just because it was cool.”

His friends started flying their flags yesterday, and some didn't have one, so a store donated more.

Word spread and so did the flags.

There was a gentle breeze blowing Friday.

His friends say Taylor would have liked that.

The wreck that killed Taylor rocked the town of Pryor, and it came just a few days after another accident near Salina on Highway 20. Jonathan Parsons, 18, was killed in a head-on collision. Because the two towns are so close together, a lot of the young people in Mayes County knew both of the victims.

On a flat, straight road, state troopers said a suspected drunk driver was on the wrong side of the highway and hit Parsons' car head on, and both of the drivers died.

A cross and a small football mark the spot where it happened.

“They got hit hard, and then kids here also got hit hard and then this happened. Kids from Salina also know Taylor and it's just a big impact on Mayes County,” friend Clayton Smith said.

The people who knew them both can't believe what happened.

Twice.

In one week.

"There was just a lot of respect for Taylor, he was a good friend of ours,” Richards said. “He's going to be missed."

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, February 16, 2015 in the Pryor High School Burdick Center. Burial will follow in the Fairview Cemetery.