His sister described William Vance Payne II as a kind and intelligent person. On Sunday night, those who knew him and those didn’t came together to honor his life.
Payne was only about 10 minutes from his job at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) early on Aug. 4 when he was hit and killed by a carful of children as young as 12, police say. Police have said the car had been stolen and a 13-year-old was behind the wheel.
“It was just a bad time,” Payne’s sister, Angela Klinkhammer, said. “They were up to no good. And they did something wrong which resulted in the death of a someone, so you can’t bring Vance back, no matter what. It was a lethal decision that they made. It was deadly.”
Payne, a 58-year-old father of five, died at the scene.
On Sunday night, his family and friends met at the crash site on Clopper Road.
“It was a very sad day for us, and we got to see him for the last time, but not in a way that we would have wanted to remember him,” his sister said. “He still was very handsome; he was always my handsome brother … and we’re gonna make it through. He would have wanted us to.”
During Sunday night’s vigil, the corner of Great Seneca Highway and Clopper Road lit up.
“I feel very sad,” said Yuki Nakandakari, who organized the vigil. “I thought that our society doesn’t feel nothing, but no, people started coming, and that means that we are shy, we don’t talk, but we are here.”
Payne had worked at NIST for 29 years, most recently as a mechanical engineer, NIST officials said. A family friend said Payne was close to retirement.
He is mourned not only by his family, but by his whole community.
“They had three kids at home and two adult daughters, and their world just kind of wiped out from under them in a matter of seconds. So when things like that happen and people give from their heart, I think we all know that this was a tragedy, and it could have been prevented,” Klinkhammer said. “That’s the biggest thing. It could have been prevented.”
The county’s crash reconstruction unit continues to investigate. Police say the investigation may take several weeks or months.
