16-year-old Caden Samples was killed while running in Caldwell, Idaho, on Sunday evening. A driver in a car hit the Vallivue High School student on Karcher Road and Indiana Avenue.
Idaho state police are still investigating the crash as Caldwell’s community mourns. Friends and family have placed flowers and notes on the Vallivue High School track to honor Samples. “I just want him to be remembered for his kindness, and his positivity and his caring,” said Ellen Samples, his grandmother.
Samples competed in track, cross-country, and wrestling, as well as orchestra and student council. He also worked at Subway and had dreams of becoming a youth pastor, according to this family. “He was there for so many people,” said Samples’ aunt Jennifer. “He didn’t really care who you were, he would do what needed to be done and try to make everybody’s life a little bit better.”
More From Runner's World
“We’re just lucky to have been able to know him and to have him in our lives,” Jennifer said. “All the people have been saying the same thing.”
Samples’ family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral and memorial expenses. “It was a very short time, but it was a very powerful, beautiful time,” Ellen Samples said of Caden’s life. “We learned a lot, and are very happy that he was in our lives.”
Kells McPhillips is a health and wellness journalist living in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in Runner's World, The New York Times, Well+Good, Fortune, Shape, and others.
