By Shelley Smith
ssmith@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — It was almost the typical Friday for Brandon Talbert’s friends. Cory Williamson and Lee Geouge planned to meet Talbert at his grandfather’s house to figure out a plan for Friday afternoon, since they were always together.
“He shook mine and Lee’s hand and said, ‘See y’all soon,’ ” Williamson recalled Monday.
Williamson sat in the driveway for a while waiting on Talbert.
He called him, texted him and finally drove up Irish Potato Road to see what was taking so long. When he hit a line of traffic and saw the ambulances and fire trucks approaching a crash, he didn’t think it was Talbert. He turned around and waited some more, then finally heard the news.
“I get a call that Brandon’s been in a wreck,” Carter said. “Everything added up why (there was) no call, no text back.”
Talbert, 19, ran off Irish Potato Road, hit a power pole and flew through the windshield of his car. He died at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Investigators said he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
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Talbert’s second cousin, Buddy Carter, who calls Talbert his “little buddy,” and “shadow,” said everyone was still in shock Monday.
“Brandon is someone you’d never really see dying at a young age,” he said.
Carter got a diamond tattoo on his leg Saturday, in the same place Talbert had the same tattoo. He had Talbert’s nickname, “B-Dizzle,” put over the diamond and “R.I.P.” beneath it. He said others plan to get the same tattoo.
Carter said Talbert gave him his first skateboard when he was 14 years old.
“Then I got better and it kind of burned him up a bit,” he joked.
He said they always had a friendly competition going on.
“We were really big into cheap-shotting each other, too,” he said.
About 6:30 p.m. Friday, Carter said, he looked at his cell phone and noticed he had about 20 missed calls.
“We rushed to Charlotte,” he said. “He was gone by the time we got there.”
Carter said Talbert’s casket is just what he would have wanted: pin-striped with a flaming tribal cross across the top.
“Brandon was flaming everything,” he said. “I think he carved flames on his dad’s computer desk, and flamed I don’t know how many casts of mine.
“The kid loved flames. He was very artistic.”
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Chase Adkins met Talbert in their freshman year at West Rowan High School, and with similar interests, they became friends quickly, he said.
“After that we were one and two, always hanging, going and doing things together,” Adkins said. “Brandon matured into a great guy from freshman year up to graduation, and so on.
“I’ve never met someone so positive, even in the worst of times. No matter the day, time, place or situation, he always found a way to make it fun.”
Adkins said Talbert’s family was also a big part of his life.
“I knew why he was the way he was after being around them for some time,” he said. “They raised one great young man.”
Although Talbert’s life was cut short, he lived a good one, always making others smile, his friends said.
“You couldn’t really stay mad at him,” Carter said. “He had this little smile, this little grin. He’d just hit you with it and you couldn’t stay mad.”
Adkins said he can’t understand why Talbert was taken so soon.
“It’s hard to understand why someone of such a young age has to have their life taken from them,” he said. “It’s unfair the way things had to be.
“Brandon had a bright future ahead of him. He impacted my life tremendously. If I turned to someone, it was him.
“He will forever be in our hearts and forever be remembered.”
Contact Shelley Smith at 704-797-4246.