Community rallies around family of beloved coach, father of 2 killed in boat crash

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A community is rallying around the grieving family of a father of two who was killed in a boat crash over the weekend.

Brandon Wilson, 39, of Grayson, was killed Saturday in a crash on Lake Hartwell while boating with one of his sons.

Now, his Gwinnett County family is rallying together to support the wife and two young boys he left behind.

Channel 2's Berndt Petersen talked to some of Wilson's closest friends in Loganville, who are heartbroken by what happened.

Courtney May and Jordan Fidanza said the tragic news hit everyone very hard.

"Like a gut punch," May said. "Brandon was so loved."

Wilson was husband to Jenny Wilson and father to 6-year-old Garrett and 9-year-old Pierce.

"What he did for those boys, just a role model of how it should be," Fidanza said. "The love. The teaching. The guidance. All that."

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Petersen learned that Brandon Wilson loved football and baseball and worked as a coach to hundreds of local children from Lilburn to Loganville

"Every weekend, he was (on the field.) It was baseball and football," Fidanza said. "He was a coach, and he was a dad. Filling all those roles."

The Department of Natural Resources said Wilson and his youngest son were on a jon boat on the lake near the South Carolina border when a ski boat hit them. The boy was not hurt.

When friends in Gwinnett County found out about the accident, they immediately reached out to help.

A GoFundMe account set up for Wilson's family has raised nearly $60,000 in just 24 hours. The community has also committed to providing meals, yard service, housekeeping and more to Wilson's widow for months to come.

May and Fidanza are not surprised. They said Wilson never met a stranger.

"Everywhere he went, he stopped and had conversations. That's who he was. This is a testament to who Brandon was and the kind of man he was," May said. "Just a tremendous friend who will be missed by so many."

Wilson will be laid to rest this Saturday.

Cox Media Group