The Round Rock Police Department is still searching for the driver of a pickup truck that hit and killed Sean Kelley, 43, late Friday night -- then drove away from the scene. For those who knew Kelley, they say he leaves behind positive memories that will never be forgotten.
Sean Kelley had been a coach and teacher at Stony Point High School for more than 10 years. While he coached soccer when he first arrived in Stony Point, the 43-year-old had expanded his coaching the past few years to tennis as well as track and field.
Randy Preston is the assistant choir director at Stony Point and also worked with Kelley. Preston said Kelley had a passion for working with special education students as an inclusion teacher.
"He was able to talk to anyone at any level no matter professional you were," Preston said. "By being an inclusion teacher, that means he was in a regular general education classroom but was helping students that had other academic difficulties."
Preston said when you saw Kelley interact with high schoolers, it was easy to tell he was right where he needed to be.
"For a lot of our students, he was their favorite teacher," Preston said. "He was their favorite coach. Sean could communicate with anyone. He was a storyteller."
For Preston and Kelley, their work relationship eventually turned into a brotherhood.
"It was an immediate connection," Preston said. "He immediately became the brother I never had. We talked regularly, texted and called. We hung out any chance we got."
Kelley was hit by the pickup truck just before 11 p.m. Friday night, according to the Round Rock Police Department. Preston said he saw Kelley that night recently before the hit-and-run.
"He and I had just talked Friday night," Preston said. "I had just seen him. And he was like, 'Hey, call me tomorrow. Let's hang out. Let's talk.' That's never going to happen now."
After finding out about Kelley's unexpected death, Preston said he leaned on mutual friends, as they talked about memories of Kelley.
"We immediately started sharing stories and memories because as it started sinking in that this wasn't a bad dream, we realized we were living a reality and this was our living nightmare," Preston said. "It's never easy to lose someone, but for someone to be taken so tragically ... it's definitely eye-opening. It's eye-opening that we're not promised tomorrow. We're not promised the next minute."
Preston said those connected to the school will remember him in the best way possible.
"I can't think of anyone that has anything negative to say about the man," Preston said. "The man touched thousands of lives as a teacher for the many years that he was in Round Rock. He lived a good life. He was a positive role model. He was a person our students could go to."
While Preston and many others are still stuck in this difficult time, he said he will always value the time he had with Kelley.
"Don't go home," said Preston, when asked what he would say to Kelley if he had the chance to tell him one more thing. "If I knew I was never going to see him again ... Sean, I love you. You're my brother. You've always been there for me. I hope I've been there for you as much as you've been here for me. Life is never going to be the same without you, but wherever you are, wherever you're going is a wonderful place. It has to be because you're going to go and make it a better place."
Stony Point representatives said counselors will be available at the school all of this school week for high schoolers who need help getting through this tragedy.
Another one of Kelley's friends has set up a GoFundMe to start raising money for a scholarship in Kelley's name. You can find that GoFundMe here.
A memorial is also set to take place Monday at 6:30 p.m. on the Stony Point High School Football Field. There is a Facebook page set up where people are asked to share stories and photos of Kelley, as many of them will then be used at the memorial. You can find that post here.