Members of the Lewisville High School girls’ basketball team comforted one another by the school gym Wednesday afternoon as they coped with the death of their former teammate.
Aubree Butts died Tuesday afternoon near Paris in a two-car crash with a semi on Loop 286.
Butts and several teammates from the Texas A&M Commerce basketball team were headed to a summer league basketball game when the crash happened, killing Butts and Rowlett alumnus, Devin Oliver.
Butts graduated from Lewisville High School just two years ago in 2012, so many current students still have fond memories of her; as do coaches and staff.
"I've known her ever since she was in the 7th grade,” said girls’ basketball coach Charlotte Jones. “Great kid, great attitude, good leader."
During her time at LHS, Butts won three 'District Defensive Player of the Year' awards in the state and was named the school’s 'Best Female Athlete' her senior year.
However, friends said her best qualities weren’t just on the court. She was also a leader on the Student Council and a mentor to younger students in the district.
"Everyone just looked up to her so much,” said fellow student council member and 2012 alumnus Rhianna Doran. “Not only just because of her talent, but because she used her talent in a way to glorify God, because she was just such a Christian."
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Doran said the news just didn’t feel real that Butts had died and an outpouring of remembrance from classmates had already began flooding social media within hours of the crash.
"Some people were posting just a simple smile that she gave people. It just lit up their day,” she said. "She had always been such an encourager [sic] and just a light in everybody's lives that she helped out."
Several of Butts’ former advisers and friends at the school were too shaken up to even talk about it Wednesday.
Jones said Butts’ former teammates and current students who never even played with her were banding together to get through the tough loss.
"It's never easy. We try to encourage our kids every day to live every day as if it's your last day,” she said as she fought back tears. "We are a family and when tragedy does hit, everybody knows how to come together and support each other.”
Alumni from the Class of 2012, along with the Lewisville High School Student Council, are planning a candlelight vigil for Butts on Friday night at the flagpole in front of the school.
They ask everyone to bring their own candle and try to wear or have some lime green on them because it was Butts’ favorite color.
