Neighbors remember 9-year-old who they all knew and loved

Adults in the community describe Logan Stroud as being like a son to them

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A week after 9-year-old Logan Stroud died following a tragic accident at a St. Johns County boat ramp, members of the community in which he lived gathered to remember him and to support his family. 

Camryn Daugherty, Logan's best friend, told News4Jax that she and Logan were like siblings.

“We just met one day and we became so close," she said. “It’s like losing a brother and we used to play all the time. I was going to spend the whole summer with him.”

Camryn, like so many of Logan's friends and family members, misses him very much.

On Friday, a small memorial was still in place at the Moultrie Creek Boat Ramp on Shore Drive, where a 15-year-old driver was backing up on the boat ramp about 9 p.m. May 23 when he struck the 9-year-old. Investigators said the driver did not see the child and hit him, pinning the boy between the car and the bulkhead piling. Deputies said Logan was taken to UF Health Jacksonville and died of his injuries the next day. The Sheriff's Office said the crash is still under investigation.

Camryn recalled the moment she learned she would never see Logan again.

“Tears went down my face. I didn’t go to school that day," she said. "I really miss him.”

Just up the street from the boat ramp, Logan's family, many of his neighbors and even his school bus driver attended a gathering Friday to remember one of the most popular kids on the block whom everyone knew and loved.

Will Golubovich said that when he moved to the area, Logan quickly welcomed him and the two became friends. He thought of Logan as an older brother. 

“We would go play hide-and-go-seek, ride bikes, play on a trampoline," he said. "He would protect me on the bus."

Will’s mother, Angie Golubovich, said Logan was like a son to her. 

“He was partly all our kid because he was such a part of the whole neighborhood," she said.

Neighbors said Logan was one of about a dozen children who attended parties in the front yard of one woman's house. Logan's mother, Amanda Stroud, said her son would befriend children who were new to the neighborhood and bring them to attend those parties. 

“This street, Gentian Road, was his home," she said.

"This is where it all went down?" News4Jax asked.

"Yes," she said, laughing.

Right after that comment, a small branch fell down from a tree. Logan's family said that was his spirit communicating.

Logan's mother said there has been an outpouring of the support from the community.

“People I don’t even know just hug me and say, 'I’m so sorry. He was just the light of everybody’s lives.' I’m, like, 'Wow. That’s my baby,'" she said. "How can I continue to stay sad when everybody loved him so much?”

Logan's older brother said he wanted the world to know his brother was a great kid.

Other adults who are not related to Logan described the boy as being like a son to them -- a true testament to the impact Logan had on the entire community. 


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