I’m sure Richard “Tre” Winfrey III of Aurora didn’t set out to become such an inspirational figure in his hometown.
That fateful path was made by a bullet fired into the car he was driving on March 2, 2007.
It was a dark time in Aurora’s history, when even innocents like this 17-year-old athlete and honor student at East Aurora High School became victims of the violence that darkened the city’s streets and its reputation.
Tre did not die from the bullet of that still unknown shooter. But on Sept. 18, he passed away from complications after 18 years of surviving as a quadriplegic.
Tre was 36 years old – not a long lifetime for anyone, especially one with so much potential. But he accomplished remarkable things in the years he was given.
Still in rehab from a severed spinal cord that left him dependent on a ventilator, Tre attended prom a couple months after the shooting in 2007 with best friend Justin Tiner, who also wheeled him across the stage that June to receive his high school diploma.
Over the years Tre attended East Aurora basketball games, Cubs and Bears games and the 2011 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. He also enjoyed comedy shows and concerts, gathered with friends and family as they bowled or played at Topgolf, took college classes, was part of a podcast with a fellow quadriplegic, was best man at his brother wedding, became a godfather and almost every Sunday would attend church services with his mother.
A couple years ago Tre became a certified insurance agent for State Farm, excited about future plans to open his own agency. But above all else, Tre inspired everyone he met. Through his smile. Through his laughter. Through genuine joy that seemed to radiate from him.
“He was always about love, the definition of grateful,” said Tiner. “When I thought I was having a bad day, I would remember my best friend who would not even be able to scratch his nose.
“I never heard him complain or feel sorry for himself.”
Count me among those fortunate to witness that indelible attitude in person – one of a half-dozen reporters who wrote about this victim of a shooting that shook a city growing numb from years of gang violence.
“Even when years pass, some cases never leave us,” said Aurora Police Chief Matt Thomas. “Tre’s story has continued to resonate with those of us who were here during that time because it reflects both the tragedy of senseless violence and the strength of a young man who carried himself with dignity despite unimaginable circumstances.”
Over the years, multiple fundraisers were held for Tre, including a monumental effort to renovate his home to make it handicap accessible, and a project spearheaded by Triple Threat Mentoring that gifted Tre’s family with a $25,000 van so he could get to his many medical appointments and classes at Waubonsee Community College.
In 2015, Tre Winfrey of Aurora checks out the new van he got through the Triple Threat Mentoring group. (Erika Wurst/The Beacon-News)
Rita Robinson, who described that new vehicle as her son’s “window to the world,” is forever grateful for the outpouring of emotional and financial support. But with Tre’s unexpected death, she needs your help again, says family friend Clayton Muhammad.
Because Tre was uninsurable due to his condition, a fund has been started to help with the financial burden of his funeral. A wake will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at James-Payne Funeral Services, 204 Hill Ave. in Aurora, and there will be a Celebration of Life at 11 a.m. Oct. 11 at St. John AME Church, 2950 Bilter Road in Aurora. Contributions can be made at www.tinyurl.com/SupportForTre, with more information available by calling his aunt, Luanda Dockery, at 630-677-1763.
Tre was “one of the finest human beings you could ever imagine … always upbeat, always with a smile on his face,” said Keith Cross, retired chief of the Aurora Police Department who was a resource officer when he first met Tre as a Waldo Middle School student.
“Even back then, you knew he was special,” said Cross, who went to school on the East Side with Tre’s mother and uncle, the late Troy Smith. “He was one of those students who would brighten my day when I saw him … smart as a whip, involved.
“You knew he was going to do good things with his life.”
As a family friend and Aurora police sergeant in charge of the Special Operations Group at the time, Cross was “devastated” when he learned a bullet had shattered that bright future. But even as Tre was recovering and rehabilitating, the teenager displayed an outlook that baffled and/or inspired those around him.
“If anyone could have been bitter about life, Tre would be that person,” said Cross. “But that was just not in his spirit. He loved life … even when it got altered.”
Facebook posts over the years, especially on the anniversaries of the shooting, reflect that grateful heart: “I hear complaints about the … littlest things and I want people to know that someone has it worse than you,” Tre wrote in 2012. “Granted, I can’t use my hands or legs, but I’m so blessed.”
And on the 16th anniversary of the shooting he reminded followers that on those bad days “you think you are having … realize someone has it worse than you and that’s why you will never hear me try to complain.”
Nor did Tre lose hope he’d walk again.
“We were on our way,” said his mother Rita, referring to advances in stem cell therapy that have shown promising outcomes for spinal cord injuries.
There were other positives happening in Tre’s life as well.
Justin Tiner says the “spiritual connection” that drew him and his best friend together in seventh grade only became stronger after the shooting, and even more so in later years after Tre got his insurance license and began working for Tiner at his Davenport, Iowa-based State Farm agency.
Not only did Tre find success there, he was “starting to think big, maybe have his own agency … become a financial advisor … start his own podcast,” insisted Tiner. “He was getting confidence working with real live people and seeing all the other things he could do.”
Mentally, his friend added, “Tre was in great shape.” But physically, complications had set in. Released recently after a short hospital stay, Tre was quickly admitted again when his blood pressure began spiking, and died shortly thereafter from a brain stroke, according to his mother.
As news spread, Rita said she’s heard from so many people touched by her son, including his first doctor and many of the nurses who took care of him over the years. Comedian and actor Tommy Davidson, who became good friends with Tre, also called and spoke to him in the hospital.
“Despite all he went through, Tre always showed love,” said Dockery, who remembers her popular, adventurous nephew as “always the peacemaker.”
And he never held a grudge, added his mother, even against the person who changed the trajectory of both their lives.
“I can hear it now,” she recalled. ‘“Let it go, Mom,’ he’d say. And I’d say ‘Let me rage and get it out.’ And he would always say, ‘Just let it go.’”
Which is why, like her son, she came to understand “hatred and revenge only bring you down.”
“There is a curiosity but no anger or bitterness,” Rita Robinson told me a decade ago when I asked about the gunman’s motive and identity. “I would tell him I forgive you.”
Those feelings have not changed even as this grieving parent struggles with her child’s death.
“Thank God for choosing me to be his mother and caregiver,” she said. “Tre kept holding me up. He truly was the wind beneath my wings.”
Unfortunately, while justice was never served in this case, noted Chief Thomas, “Tre’s resilience and the way he chose to live his life left a lasting example for everyone who knew him.”
And the chief speaks for all of us when he added, “Aurora has lost a truly remarkable member of our community.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com