About a dozen Sycamore High School students gathered Friday around an old, painted picnic table in Pleasant View on what would have been their friend’s sweet sixteenth birthday.
It should have been a time of celebration. Instead, it was a bittersweet memorial for Tristin Franklin.
The 15-year-old Sycamore High School sophomore and cross country athlete died less than two weeks ago on Aug. 27. He was running in his Pleasant View neighborhood, something he did often, according to those who knew him best, when a local resident found him in distress and called for an ambulance.
A cause of death has not yet been determined in Tristin’s case, pending official autopsy results from the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s Office.
More: Sycamore runner’s death at 15 leaves family, community shaken, waiting for answers
His family and friends are hopeful the results will shed some light on the teen’s sudden death, which has shaken the Cheatham County community where Tristin spent his whole life, including and most especially the “11 extraordinary men” gathered around the picnic table Friday afternoon.