Selvey family visits Devan's favourite trail to hold onto happy memories, a year after his death

On the one-year anniversary of her son Devan's death, Shari-Ann Selvey headedto Hidden Valley Parkto fight off the tears,surroundingherself with close friends, family and good memories.

She calls the Burlington park one of her "happy places."

It's where she took her kids to hike, chase frogs and play.

"Today it's just about remembering him positively. Not how it happened," said Selvey."We're just focusing on the big part [of us] that he was."

Devan was killed behind Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School on Oct. 7, 2019. He died in his mother's arms.

Ateen, 14 years old at time, is charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

But on Wednesday those parts of the past were far away and the focus was on celebrating Devan.

A playlist of his favourite songs could be heardover a speaker as supporterssigned a poster board with messages of love and remembrance and pinned on buttons with his face.

Dale Tokarchuk, a friend of the family, said he came out to help keep Devan's memory, and theanti-bullying message that followed his death, alive.

"We don't want people to forget. I don't want people to forget," he explained."It was very tragic circumstances."

Every corner of the park seemed to bring back moments for Selvey.

She pointed tothe swings,empty and swaying gently in the wind, and talked about her mom and Devan racing to get there.

"They would actually run to see who could get on the swing first," she said."They would always be on the swings."

She recalled walkingthe trails when she was pregnant with Devanand bringing him back to explore for himself when he was a child.

Gesturing around her, Selvey talked about walks in the woods and muddy kids and dogs clambering into the car.

"I spent too much time with my children and that's probably the best thing I could have done," she said."If I didn't spend so much time with them I wouldn't have all these beautiful memories."

Yellow flowers could be seen near the trail head in a purple pot Devan's favourite colour.

At one pointKarissa, Devan's older sister,and Danielle, his girlfriend, walked into the trees together to get away from the music and memories. The words "RIP Devan" were written on Karissa's shoes in permanent marker.

Selveyplanned to take a hike when everyone left.

She was hoping to find a way to connect with her son somewhere along the familiar pathways.

"When we're here we remember him," she said."It's like he's still with us walking the trails."

A virtual vigil to remember Devan Selvey is planned for Wednesday night.