AUBURN - Monday would have been Anthony Agee's birthday.
He didn't live to see his 26th year.
He didn't live to see the birth of two of his children.
"He was sweet and smart. He was great with kids. He wanted to be the best dad in the world," said Tiffany Kramberg, who had been romantically involved with Agee for two years and is expecting the birth of Agee's first child, Anthony Jr., on Thanksgiving. Agee was also the expectant father to another child.
He was so thrilled with the thought of the two babies that he got a tattoo with their names, Anthony Jr., and Hope, said friend Josh Krickovich.
He was good, kind and playful with children, but sarcastic with adults, said many of his relatives who gathered Monday at the home of Agee's father, Oliver.
"This is so unfair. He didn't deserve it, and we all love him," said Linda Wilson, Agee's mother.
Agee was born in Auburn, and spent most of his childhood and tearly adolescence with his mother in Port Byron.
Agee played on the football and baseball athletic teams at Port Byron High School and was talkative and social, though it was tough growing up as one of the few black kids in the predominately white school district, said his oldest sister, Tonya Wheeler.
One incident was particularly awful, Wheeler said.
She recalled one incident when they were riding the school bus when she was kicked in the stomach by a bully. Agee came rushing from the front of the bus to stand up for her, Wheeler said.
Agee was protective of family.
"He was a big dude and he would defend you to the end. He was the type of person who would die for you," said Angel Bunce, a family friend.
Agee hit a rough spot when Wheeler withdrew from Port Byron and went to live in Syracuse. Agee also withdrew from Port Byron and moved to Auburn.
Wheeler's voice began to break as she recounted the day Agee walked all the way from Auburn to Wheeler's residence in Syracuse. Following that, Wheeler and her partner got him enrolled in the Batavia Job Corps center.
Through Job Corps, a voluntary residential and educational training program for economically disadvantaged youth, Agee earned his general equivalency diploma and vocational training in carpentry and construction.
When Agee came back to Auburn in 1998, he bought his first car and started working various roofing and other construction jobs, his stepmother, Janice Agee said.
Agee, however, got into trouble with an attempted robbery conviction. He was released from state prison in August 2002.
Agee enrolled in Cayuga Community College in January 2004, and successfully encouraged Kramberg to enroll the next semester.
Agee withdrew for two semesters because of the death of his step-grandfather, Kenneth Wilson, and because of a local county jail sentence, Kramberg said, but he was heading back to finish his degree this fall.
The two would study together most nights.
"It was like our high school all over, but together," Kramberg said.
They were so close, Kramberg's daughter, Sharayah, called Agee her father.
Sunday, Kramberg told her 3-year-old daughter that Agee had died. When Sharayah asked if they could catch Agee from the sky, Kramberg broke down and cried.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
He didn't live to see the birth of two of his children.
"He was sweet and smart. He was great with kids. He wanted to be the best dad in the world," said Tiffany Kramberg, who had been romantically involved with Agee for two years and is expecting the birth of Agee's first child, Anthony Jr., on Thanksgiving. Agee was also the expectant father to another child.
He was so thrilled with the thought of the two babies that he got a tattoo with their names, Anthony Jr., and Hope, said friend Josh Krickovich.
He was good, kind and playful with children, but sarcastic with adults, said many of his relatives who gathered Monday at the home of Agee's father, Oliver.
"This is so unfair. He didn't deserve it, and we all love him," said Linda Wilson, Agee's mother.
Agee was born in Auburn, and spent most of his childhood and tearly adolescence with his mother in Port Byron.
Agee played on the football and baseball athletic teams at Port Byron High School and was talkative and social, though it was tough growing up as one of the few black kids in the predominately white school district, said his oldest sister, Tonya Wheeler.
One incident was particularly awful, Wheeler said.
She recalled one incident when they were riding the school bus when she was kicked in the stomach by a bully. Agee came rushing from the front of the bus to stand up for her, Wheeler said.
Agee was protective of family.
"He was a big dude and he would defend you to the end. He was the type of person who would die for you," said Angel Bunce, a family friend.
Agee hit a rough spot when Wheeler withdrew from Port Byron and went to live in Syracuse. Agee also withdrew from Port Byron and moved to Auburn.
Wheeler's voice began to break as she recounted the day Agee walked all the way from Auburn to Wheeler's residence in Syracuse. Following that, Wheeler and her partner got him enrolled in the Batavia Job Corps center.
Through Job Corps, a voluntary residential and educational training program for economically disadvantaged youth, Agee earned his general equivalency diploma and vocational training in carpentry and construction.
When Agee came back to Auburn in 1998, he bought his first car and started working various roofing and other construction jobs, his stepmother, Janice Agee said.
Agee, however, got into trouble with an attempted robbery conviction. He was released from state prison in August 2002.
Agee enrolled in Cayuga Community College in January 2004, and successfully encouraged Kramberg to enroll the next semester.
Agee withdrew for two semesters because of the death of his step-grandfather, Kenneth Wilson, and because of a local county jail sentence, Kramberg said, but he was heading back to finish his degree this fall.
The two would study together most nights.
"It was like our high school all over, but together," Kramberg said.
They were so close, Kramberg's daughter, Sharayah, called Agee her father.
Sunday, Kramberg told her 3-year-old daughter that Agee had died. When Sharayah asked if they could catch Agee from the sky, Kramberg broke down and cried.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
