Grieving Mom Just Wants To Pay Off Her Son’s Funeral

JUSTICE, IL — A grieving mother in Justice talked to the man who placed her 17-year-old son into a body bag. She talked to the person who applied makeup on her boy’s face for his viewing at the funeral home. Now, almost eight weeks after her son, Nathanial, died in a vehicle crash with three other teens, she faces raw grief and the unpaid balance for her son’s funeral.

“I’m still in my room,” said Patricia Phillips, a single mom who works as a server in a local restaurant. “In the next couple of weeks, I will go to work to have a little bit of normal.”

Nathanial — known as “Nathan” and “Nate” to his family and friends — was a funny, joyful boy who was looking forward to his senior year at Argo Community High School in Summit. He held down the homefront, looking after his younger siblings while his mother worked. During the afternoon of July 17, Nathanial and his friends were riding in the back seat of a 2008 Mercedes SUV in Hickory Hills when the vehicle crashed into a tree.

Hickory Hills police said the 17-year-old girl who was driving the vehicle was aiming for the crest of a hill at a high rate of speed in an attempt to go airborne. The girl has since been charged as a juvenile with reckless homicide. Nathanial, along with his best friend, 17-year-old Omarion Rieves, died at the scene. Omarion’s younger brother, Jemerrio, 15, and Destiny Giera, 16, also died of their injuries. The driver and another teen passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Phillips was at work when police showed up at the restaurant to tell her that Nathanial had been killed, confirming a feeling of unexplained dread she had been experiencing that entire afternoon. She found a small measure of closure in knowing that she was able to speak to everybody, from the detective who placed her son into a body bag to the staff at the funeral home that handled her son’s arrangements.

“When the detective hugged me, his body was shaking,” Phillips said. “He had kids. I could tell he felt my pain.”

When her son’s body was taken to Damar-Kaminski Funeral Home in Justice, Phillips told the funeral director to tell her son that she loved him.

“You’re dealing with a big boy there,” she told the director. “Having a little bit of a personal touch and knowing how he was handled, there were a lot of people hurting for me. The funeral director said I took good care of Nathan and, now, they were going to take good care of him. That was a gift to me.”

In the days immediately following the accident — when the story led TV newscasts for several days — a person known to the family set up a GoFundMe account asking for donations to give Nathanial a proper burial. The same person also provided photos of Nathanial to the news media, and talked to TV news reporters, without Phillips’ consent.

GoFundMe took down the page when Phillips filed a complaint, and refunded approximately $3,500 back to the donors. Phillips never received the donations intended for her son’s funeral.

Nathanial’s fourth grade substitute teacher, Nia Adero, was particularly grieved by what happened with the first online fundraiser. She had donated $100; her parents donated money; and her own son, an Argo student, gave money, too. Prior to the accident, Adero had never met Nathanial’s mother.

“I reached out to everyone I know on Facebook,” said Adero. "I know for a fact it was people I referred who donated to the first account. That money should have gone to Patricia.”

Phillips has established “The Real Nathan Phillips” GoFundMe account to try to raise $3,500 to pay off the outstanding balance for her son’s funeral.

“I watched him not only work hard to achieve his goals in school, but I also had the chance firsthand to see him as a responsible employee. I recently helped him get a job alongside me to earn his own money and be proud of himself,” Phillips wrote. “My last memory with Nathan was of us sitting together on my patio the night before this accident. We had a bonfire that evening, and he had been out with his friends, so we had already put the fire out when he returned home. However, he managed to make a s’more using the tiniest little piece of burning wood in the corner of the pit. He was happy like he always was, with a smile from ear to ear because he was a joyful, funny boy who we will forever hold near and dear to our hearts.”

Although the funeral home has been patient about the remaining balance, Phillips wants to honor her son by taking care of his final business.

“It’s a bill — it has to get paid,” she said.

Meanwhile, Phillips is just trying to help her three living children get through their grief, while dealing with her own debilitating anxiety. The tree on 86th Avenue and 89th Street that absorbed the impact of the vehicle her son was riding in will be cut down. A speed bump has been installed on the troublesome corner to deter speeders. Phillips has been promised a piece of the tree when it is removed.

“For the first time in my life, I no longer fear death, and I’ve feared it in every way,” Phillips said. “I don’t fear death now. because I know I have something to go to heaven for.”

Visit “The Real Nathan Phillips” GoFundMe account to make a donation. There will be a balloon release for the students who died at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at Argo Community High School, 7329 W. 63rd St., Summit, before the junior varsity football game.