It wasn’t unusual to find Nacear Gredic dancing on roller skates. The 20-year-old was known for his playful energy and could never resist a dance or a twirl on his skates.
“He couldn’t get serious. For nothing in the world, I have never seen him serious about anything,” Johndell Gredic, Nacear’s mother, said. “He played so much.”
Nacear liked listening to oldies, just like his grandfather did.
“He danced off of the oldies because he’d be like, ‘Pop-pop used to do this.’ Then I’d be like, ‘oh my god, you do dance like my dad,’” Johndell joked.
His playful energy and fun-loving nature projected on everyone around him. Nacear loved basketball, played football in his youth and simply loved his life.
On Memorial Day in 2015, a weekend known to many as a time for gatherings of friends and cookouts, Nacear was killed in Southwest Philadelphia.
The 20-year-old died before he could fully realize his future. Nacear was in school to become a dental hygienist and was a full-time dad to his children.
“While I’m working, he’d be home with his son, and then when I come home, he would go to school,” Johndell said. “He was a full-time father because he had his first child at 17.”
Nacear loved being around his kids and spent much of his time taking care of them. His children’s milestones were always proud moments for him. From his daughter’s birth and calling her, “my princess, my princess,” to his playful spirit with his son, there are so many moments Johndell hopes her grandkids can cherish through photos and memories of their father.
“One Christmas, I want to say it was his son’s second Christmas… I bought my grandson a drum set, this Mickey Mouse drum set with a guitar and all this other stuff,” Johndell said. “Him and his friend were downstairs putting it together, and the next thing you hear is them banging on the drums. They [were] downstairs, and they had the drums and guitar and stuff, and my grandson was right there with them. It was so cute.”
At the time of his death, Nacear had one son and one daughter. His third child was on the way, to be born six months after his passing. In memory of the father he will never meet, the boy was named Nacear Jr.
“I still have my Nacear, not my Nacear, but my Nacear.”
To make sure her son isn’t forgotten, and to show appreciation to those have supported her in the days, months and years since the loss of her son, Johndell hosts a five-on-five basketball tournament and a Memorial Day cookout every year in honor of Nacear.
“I want to remember Memorial Day as a happy time, not the day I lost my son.”
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