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Cortland family recalls favorite memories about mother, son, lost in car crash Saturday

CORTLAND – Shaolin Lemon spoke about her brother on Sunday and how he was her guardian.

“Kal is the best,” Lemon said. “I ain’t gonna lie. Kal is my protector,” she said about Kal-el Sexton, 17, who died with their mother Dalahn Colley, 46, in a one-vehicle crash Saturday morning when their car went off the road at Plank Road, east of Lukens Road, in Cortland.

Kal-el is also the given name for the comic book character, Superman.

Lemon, 24, said her brother grew into his name.

Not only was Sexton the man of the house for Lemon and their mother, Colley, he was the only man in the house, Lemon said.

She said Sexton got his first job at Wendy’s and how he was so proud to have a job.

“He worked so he could help us out,” Lemon said. “Me and my momma.”

“We were his queens,” Lemon said. “He called me his goddess. He told me ‘goddesses don’t need nobody. Queens do.”

Sexton was also a big kid. He loved his video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and candy, Lemon and Davon Bishop said. Bishop was one of Sexton’s close friends.

“He loved his anime (cartoons) and video games,” Bishop said before he recalled he first met Sexton in March 2016. He said playing the games will never be the same.

Bishop fondly remembers his discussions with Sexton about the games.

“We’ve always had little debates about anime,” he said. “I used to sit and watch him play the game. Just recently we were in the room playing ‘Dragon Ball Z.’ ”

“Kal is a gamehead,” Lemon said. “He has friends from all over the world who he’s never met but he’s kept in contact with them for 10 years or more. Kal cares and he keeps in contact with them.”

Kal-el would have been at most 7 years old when he started playing. That’s how much he loved his games.

Bishop said Kal-el also loved Dungeons & Dragons, originally a tabletop, pen-and-paper roleplaying game played with a group. Lemon backed up Bishop’s claim.

“This man makes appointments to go online and play D&D,” Lemon said.

Although he loved his games, they didn’t get in the way of caring for Lemon and Colley.

“If I say I’m hungry and I’m sick, I need some water, he’ll throw a water bottle at me, give me a granola bar and run off,” Lemon said.

Bishop talked about how he used to mess with Sexton while he was playing video games. He showed a video of what he’d do.

Bishop would walk up to Sexton and start recording Sexton. He’d wait to see what Sexton would do.

In one video, Sexton put his hands out and asked “Why?” Then he chased Bishop around until they got into a different room. It was there that Sexton turn into the comic book character “The Flash.”

Lemon remembered her brother would turn on music from “The Flash,” and then run in slow-motion as he chased around Bishop or Lemon. It was all in good fun.

Derry Sexton, Kal-el’s father, talked about how his favorite memory of his son was when he was born.

“I was afraid to hold him,” Derry said. “The nurse told me to put my hands together in a certain way. I did, so she lay him inside my arms. The minute she did that, all my fears disappeared at that point.”

Lemon and Bishop also talked about Colley. Bishop said Colley was more his mom than his biological mother. He remembered Colley considered him one of her children.

Lemon talked about how she could tell her mother anything.

“She’ll make you feel better about your bad situation,” Lemon said.

As of Monday afternoon, 408 people have combined to donate $21,229 through a GoFundMe page to help pay for Sexton and Colley’s funerals.

Lemon sounded overwhelmed by the support people have shown her family.

“I feel so loved,” she said in a text message. “I want to apologize to everyone because everyone is doing everything they can for us!”

Lemon said she will never heal, but she’s trying hard to be positive, and it’s taking everyone’s help.

“My mom taught us love and I love you all that donated, that tried, that even shared it,” she wrote. “I thank Amanda, miss Mandy, so much, she’s a blessing. … I want to thank everyone who came and checked on me! Kali bear’s school, Sycamore High School! I feel so loved by the Spartans right now!”

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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