Cal Poly holds vigil for student killed by train

With the sun setting over Cal Poly’s University Union plaza, close to 100 students and community members gathered Friday to hold a vigil for Thomas Stone, a business senior who was struck and killed by an Amtrak train on Tuesday.

There were many laughs, but more tears, as Stone’s family and friends told tales about the 22-year-old, describing a funny and outgoing man who loved Cal Poly.

Stone’s older sister choked back sobs as she told the story of a time her brother persuaded their parents to let him get his hair cut in any way he wanted and he chose a “Friar Tuck” — a bowl cut with a bald spot on the top of the head.

“There are a million memories I have with my brother,” she said. “I try to take solace in the fact that Tom will always be that carefree, fun-loving, happy, goofy guy, and I think that’s how he would have wanted to be remembered.”

Stone’s father, Jim Stone, recounted a time he and his son were in Utah — where Stone had gone to high school — and he asked his son if he ever wished he had stayed in Utah and not gone to Cal Poly.

“He looked at me and smiled and said, ‘No,’” Jim Stone said. “I asked him why not, and he told me, ‘It’s the people. That’s what makes the difference.’ And he meant that. He loved you people.”

During the vigil, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong also thanked the students at the scene of the accident, who stayed with Stone until paramedics arrived.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Stone was crossing the railroad tracks at Foothill and California boulevards near Cal Poly when he was struck by a northbound Amtrak train. Police and firefighters responded to the scene and conducted life-saving efforts before taking Stone to a local hospital, where he was prounounced dead.

The San Luis Obispo Police Department said in a news release that witnesses reported seeing Stone wearing earbuds and looking down at his phone as he walked into the path of the train. He reportedly did not respond to the crossing arms or the train’s horn.

At the vigil, Armstrong delivered a message for the community from Stone’s father: “Don’t remember him as the guy who made that split second — that accident — don’t remember that. Remember Tom smiling and laughing.”

Armstrong also thanked students Connor Westover, Courtney Owens and Ian Melton for staying with Stone while awaiting paramedics.

“We come together as Mustangs to support one another,” Armstrong said. “They didn’t know Tom, but they held him, they comforted him, and they were with him.”

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Cal Poly holds vigil for student killed by train."