MARION, Texas – Friends and coworkers of a Marion man who died alongside his wife and unborn child remember him as a dedicated drummer and proud father-to-be.
Jonathan Coppinger, his wife Jessica Coppinger and their unborn child died Friday in a car crash while on their way to a baby shower in East Texas.
"(He was) constantly showing pictures of the ultrasound and constantly talking about it. Always throwing out names and this and that," said Zach Ferris, Jonathan's Guitar Center coworker.
The crash took place on State Highway 7 near Crockett in Houston County. The couple was on their way to the shower in Nacogdoches when the accident happened.
The Department of Public Safety said a 16-year-old boy driving a truck attempted to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone when he hit the Coppingers' car head-on.
Jonathan Coppinger, 25, died at the scene. Jessica Coppinger, 25, died on the way to a hospital.
"You get angry, you get upset. There's no explaining the feeling of emptiness for that particular person and the thoughts that go out to the people that care about him," said Guitar Center employee Joel Chapman.
Guitar Center employees will be pay tribute to Jonathan and his love for music by engraving a cymbal with his name and hanging it up in the store.
"He was a bright spark, a person that lit up this entire place," Chapman said.