IT WAS THE LIGHT THAT HE had. That’s what stood out to her most in the photo of her son. How angelic he looked. How happy he looked. How the light not only radiated onto his face but shined through him. It’s one of Osmine Clarke’s favorite memories of her 19-year-old son, Terrence, who tragically passed away in a motor vehicle collision in Los Angeles on April 22, 2021.
“We called Terrence and said, Terrence, is that a filter? And he was like, Mommy, that’s just me! Like, he just had this beautiful light,” Osmine recalls on a rainy afternoon in August, exactly four months since Terrence passed. She’s sitting down on a plush grey loveseat inside the dimly lit, yellow-painted living room at her mother’s house in Boston, telling the story.
She remembers she was at an IHOP in Brockton with her daughter Tatyana when she saw the photo on March 19. That same day, Terrence had declared for the 2021 NBA Draft, and in what appears to be a screenshot of a Face Time call, Terrence is looking slightly away from the camera and smiling a wide, cheeky grin as the sun beams down on him. The words, “Guess who just declared for the draft! Congrats broo I’m so proud of you” are written in the caption.
“His melanin was definitely poppin’,” says Taty, who is standing behind the couch while entertaining her 4-year-old brother Gavin.
“He had this beautiful light,” Osmine adds,
