Middletown community wraps its arms around boys who lost mother

When Tawania Jewett moved her two sons from Dayton to Middletown and enrolled them in Creekview Elementary School the family had no connection to the community.

“We were the odd people out,” said her youngest son, Tywan Hall, 18, a senior at Middletown High School. “Nobody knew anything about us.”

Now the Middletown community has wrapped its arms around the boys after their 47-year-old mother, who had health issues, died last week in the apartment she shared with her sons, Brendan Hall, 19, a 2021 MHS graduate, and Tywan.

Marnie Kash, who taught the Hall boys when they were fifth-graders at Creekview, started a GoFundMe account with a goal of raising $1,000 to offset their apartment rental payments, utility bills and living expenses. In the first 24 hours, $2,000 was pledged and now $4,535 has been raised through the donations of 75 people.

“I’m just in awe,” said Kash, who added donations have come as far away as Texas. “It’s blowing me away. We’re stepping up to the plate. They need us. As long as I’ve known these boys and their wonderful mother, it has always just been the three of them. My heart is breaking for these two.”

Kash graduated from Middletown High School in 1989, then Bowling Green State University. She has taught elementary education for 26 years, all in her hometown.

Every year, on the first day of school, Kash looks at those innocent faces sitting at their desks. That’s when the students become part of her extended family.

“They are my kids,” she said. “They are my kids for life.”

Tywan is a 6-foot-3 guard on the MHS boy basketball team. He attended practice on Dec. 18, the day his mother died, then played against Allen East, a 55-51 loss, the next day. His mother, a standout high school athlete, attended all Middie home basketball games.

She was her son’s biggest fan.

“My energy is different,” Tywan said quietly. “It’s not the same without her cheering me on.”

The Middie family also has supported the Hall boys, according to Kelven Moss, the first-year coach and 2001 Middletown High School graduate. He said people have dropped off groceries and donated enough money to pay three months of rent.

“We’re always ready to help when a Middie is in need,” Moss said. “It’s bigger than basketball.”

At the end of practice, the team says: “One, two, family.”

Those three words never have meant more to Tywan Hall.

“I appreciate the love,” he said. “I didn’t know how much people loved me and my family.”

As Tywan sat on the bleachers inside Wade E. Miller Arena, he looked away from Jerry Lucas Court where his teammates, his brothers, were practicing. His eyes glanced toward his muscular arms. His left arm has a tattoo with the words: Realize Everyone Ain’t Loyal (REAL). There is an elephant on his right arm in memory of an aunt who died a few years ago.

He hasn’t seen his father since he was a young boy.

“It’s been a wild 18 years,” he said. “It’s always been me and my brother and her. Now it’s just me and my brother.”