Asa Hill, a 7-year-old boy who loved to sing and dance, wanted his parents to marry.

This past Monday that wish came true…in a service with 1,100 people and with hundreds more overflowing onto the church lawn where sound systems were set up so they could hear the service.

Monday also happened to be the day of Asa’s funeral.

Last Thursday Asa was alive when he was pulled out of a burning car…a horrific accident involving six cars in a chain-reaction collision on the I-190 in New York.

But because of extensive head injuries, he died the next night. And while holding his lifeless son in his arms at the hospital, Amilcar Hill was moved to finally officially propose to Asa’s mother, Rahwa.

Amilcar and Rahwa, best friends since they were 15, had been together for almost half of their lives. After Asa was born, marriage had always been something that they considered but, according to Asa’s father, both felt that a wedding was “superficial and not necessary.”

Asa, however, was insistent that they make their union official.

“Asa really wanted us to do it, and every time he would ask us we would say, ‘Yes, we’ll get married,’ ” said Hill.

But the couple never did get around to figuring out the logistics for a ceremony.

“Rahwa was overwhelmed at that moment [when Amilcar was holding Asa] and just looked at me. When the family sat down to plan the funeral service, she said ‘Let’s get married.’ And everyone broke down at the table,” he said.

The shaken Buffalo, New York, community turned out in large numbers at Asa’s funeral; They wanted to support his parents and were pleasantly surprised when the couple ended the service with a wedding ceremony, a fulfillment of their son’s wish.

The marriage took place after a service filled with African drums, dancing, sermons and family and friends sharing memories of Asa, all in celebration of his life. When the wedding was announced, there were shocked cheers and applause from those in the church pews.

“We wanted it to be a surprise,” Amilcar said. “We knew it would be a joyous moment. You could see how it lifted them, and we figured, why not make it a surprise at the end.”

Asa, described as a beacon of love by his father, had his organs harvested so that others might live…a kidney gifted to someone in WNY, his heart to a five-year-old boy in North Carolina and his liver to a 10-month-old in NYC.

“It lifts my heart,” said his mother, Rahwa, “that my son has given the gift of life and I pray that the recipients grow to be healthy, strong individuals and continue the legacy of bringing love, joy and healing to the world.”

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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