YouTube star Caleb Bratayley remembered at memorial service
Friends and family came together for a memorial service for Caleb Logan Bratayley. The 13-year-old YouTube star, of the Bratayley family, died on Thursday, and the memorial was live-streamed on Facebook and Periscope for mourning fans.
The service was set up with plenty of flowers, blown-up photos of Caleb and a slideshow of his pictures. The Facebook stream has nearly 300,000 views from fans who got a peek into the Bratayleys' family life.
The memorial opened with a compilation video of the teenager with his family on vacation, playing sports and singing with his siblings. The video also showed clips of Caleb as a young boy, addressing YouTube subscribers.
After the video, the floor was open for people to come up to the podium and talk about their favorite memories of Caleb -- some were funny and some were serious, but all were moving and depicted a lively young man with lots of energy and kindness.
A family friend named Paula talked about her daughter Sydney's relationship with Caleb and called it a "very philosophical, deep friendship." She said the two had even talked about marriage, kids and college -- and Caleb had told Sydney she couldn't date anyone without him vetting the guy first.
"Unfortunately, the thought that Sydney and Caleb would end up together is not happening anymore," she said. "I do hope and pray for my daughter that the relationship you have with your future mate is one-eighth as emotionally tied as yours was with Caleb and that was based on trust and friendship and acceptance."
Caleb's mentors, friends and family members took turns remembering him and the service ended with closing remarks from a pastor, who asked viewers to respect the Bratayley family.
Caleb died of an "undetected medical condition." His mother, Katie, asked fans to focus on Caleb's life instead of his death, but also said she would share more details as she got them.
