Dalton Viner's Story
Dalton Viner was born November 28th, 1993 in San Antonio, Texas. He was our first child, and my wife, Stacy, and I were overjoyed to finally welcome him into the world. In the fall of 1994, we moved to Midwest City, Oklahoma to settle down for good. 3 years later, Dalton met his little sister, Jordyn, on the 15th of March, 1997. We have so many fond memories of our kids growing up together and watching them make their way through school and extracurriculars.
With his immense love for sports and easy to love personality, Dalton easily made friends that would last him from elementary all the way to high school when he graduated from Choctaw High School in 2012. He started out with baseball, basketball, and football, but settled into playing baseball seriously and pursued it throughout high school and into college. He attended Eastern Oklahoma State University (2013) and San Jacinto Junior College (2014) and was drafted by two Major League teams (The Miami Marlins in 2013 and the Cincinnati Reds in 2014). There is not a day that goes by where we aren’t thinking about how proud we are to have had him in our lives.
Anyone who knew Dalton would tell you he could be a bit ornery, but that was how you knew that he really cared. He could be goofy and keep an entire room laughing for hours, and his smile was terribly contagious. No matter what, once you were with Dalton, you were treated like family.
In 2015, Dalton began having struggles with his mental health and we tragically lost him to suicide on May 20th of 2016. It’s a day that we will never forget.
It is because of our loss that we wish to help others in any way that we can, and to try and make the world a place free from suicide.
