In Memory of a Precious Life
The humble beginnings
After a nine plus month pregnancy and 23 hours of labor, our long awaited beautiful baby boy made his presence into the world. Members of the family filled the room with sounds of jubilation, as tears of joy flowed ever so freely. Everyone was excited! He entered this world looking like he had a few rounds with a professional boxer, but to us, our T-Chalé was finally here and was the most precious and beautiful baby boy that God had ever created.
This chubby baby boy with thighs like ham-hocks grew to be a muscular and very talented athlete who loved baseball, but loved the women in his family even more passionately. He was obedient and always available to assist with chores. Whenever he was on shopping trips or other outings with his mother, grandmothers, aunts, and girl cousins, even at a young elementary school age, he never failed to offer them his protective assistance.
T-Chalé on a Personal Level
T-Chalé was intelligent and possessed many talents, but also had his challenges, as many of us do. He struggled particularly hard in school to give his full attention to those subjects that did not fully or physically engage him. However, he had a passion and talent for subjects that were mechanical or involved woodworking projects. One of his prides and joys was the successful building of a computer with minimal instruction as his 5th grade science project.
At the age of 15, what we hoped would be only a nightmare, became a reality. T-Chalé, caught up in the “wrong crowd”, found himself facing 5 years of juvenile detention for a first offense: a travesty of justice in our family’s eyes.
T-Chalé Opening Gifts
Enjoying time with his parents
Incarcerated for those critical formative years of his life, with little positive remediative and educational interventions, T-Chalé struggled for a direction in life once released. He needed time to relearn how to live a normal lifestyle and to understand the possibilities of a world he left behind five years ago. T-Chalé was one of the few who had the support of his family to pursue his dreams. However, the scars of incarceration could not heal fast enough for that normalcy and awareness of life’s possibilities. T-Chalé was taken away from us as the victim of a vicious and violent crime in 2016.
To honor him and fight the ongoing violence in our society, we have established a foundation. The T-Chalé Prejean Life Foundation. We are committed to changing this epidemic and we pray others will join us by volunteering or financially supporting our endeavors to save at-risk young lives.
