Khyree Dyches and his cousin grew up watching his grandfather build anything he could think of, whether it was redoing the kitchen, making wooden African statues or sewing clothes.
“We’d help him paint, he taught us how to sew, and we were always learning,” said Khyree’s cousin Asia. “He always taught us stuff.”
Since they were kids Khyree and Asia always wanted to use the knowledge Khyree’s grandfather gave them to either create a construction company, renovate old houses or fix cars.
Unfortunately, their childhood dream would be cut short on March 17, 2016, almost three weeks after Khyree’s 21st birthday. He went to his friend’s house to hang out but before they could see each other Khyree was shot and killed on 31st and Huntington in North Philadelphia. Police have not made any arrests.
While a lot of people thought he was older because of how tall he was and how deep his voice was, Khyree was barely an adult.
“I just feel like he didn’t get a fair chance. He got killed at 21, he was 21 for 17 days,” Asia said.
Khyree, or Khy, was born on February 28, 1995 in Strawberry Mansion to Miesha Dyches and Daewoo. The youngest of two siblings, he had an older brother Henry and an older sister Cierra. Khyree also grew up with his cousin Asia, while she was older than him by a year, he always called her his little sister because he was taller.
“Out of everyone we were really tight, he was my dog,” Asia said.
One of her favorite memories with her cousin was when they were playing with a lawnmower in a parking lot over small rocks.
“We didn’t know any better,” Asia said laughing. “He was starting the lawnmower and I walked behind him and when I walked behind him he elbowed me in my mouth and knocked my tooth out and we were looking for the tooth in the rocks and we collected so many rocks that day because we wanted to get a dollar for the tooth.”
The most important thing in Khyree’s life was his family, especially his kids, his daughter Aniyah and his son Kahymeen. Whenever he could he’d pop up at their school or day care and spend time with them.
He also talked to his siblings daily and made friends with everyone around the city.
“Everyone had a good bond with him, he never had no bad energy with nobody,” Asia said.
Khyree was the type of person who’d always crack jokes to make everyone laugh, he wanted people to be happy.
“He always made something funny, if you were in a bad mood just go talk to him and he’d know how to make you feel better,” Asia said.
If Khyree were alive today, he’d want to be remembered as being a funny, loving and caring person
“That’s what he showed, that really, that was him,” Asia said. “He cared about people a lot, he had a lot of respect for everyone, he wasn’t a bad person. If I had one wish, I wish I could bring him back.”
