The Habersham County community is mourning the loss of two teenage boys who were killed in a fatal wreck in White County. Passenger Dawson Ansley, 16 of Baldwin, and driver Walter Avery Camargo, 16 of Cornelia, died when the car ran off the road at a high speed, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
Family and friends are now sharing their memories of the boys with their community as they, and the people providing their support, grieve the loss of two young men.
Dawson Ansley, a Mountain Education Charter High School student, is remembered as an outgoing teenager who loved hunting, fishing and spending time with his friends.
“Dawson was a loving, kind, free-spirited young man,” mother Katrina Whitfield tells Now Habersham. “He had a smile that would radiate and light up the entire room. He had a laugh that was contagious and could always put a smile on your face. To know Dawson was to love Dawson.”
She says he was the kind of person who “never met a stranger,” loved his friends and family deeply, and had a special relationship with his dog, Merly.
“Merly would crawl up next to him right in the bed and sleep with him every night,” Whitfield said. “If Dawson wasn’t home, Merly would whine until Dawson got there so he could give him some love and attention.”
His mother says he was one-of-a-kind, and that he always said what he felt and meant what he said.
“Habersham MECHS is heartbroken to learn of the death of Dawson Ansley. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends,” said Mountain Education Charter High School Principal Sheri Whiten. The school is offering counseling to students who were affected by Ansley’s death.
Both teens were former Habersham County Schools students, according to Habersham Schools Superintendent Matthew Cooper. They had withdrawn to be homeschooled.
“We are saddened by this tragedy and will be praying for their families,” he says.
Avery Camargo, a former Wilbanks Middle School student, is remembered for always making his friends and classmates laugh.
“I grew up with Avery,” said Alex Alanis, a friend of Camargo’s. “He was a good kid who always tried to make everyone around him smile.”
Alanis said Camargo inspired him to be himself and find the things that brought him joy, regardless of what others thought. “I thank him for teaching me that,” Alanis said.
Camargo washed dishes at Ribeyes in Cornelia, where his father, Pedro Camargo, is a cook.
“Avery was a wonderful young man with his whole life ahead of him,” says Halie Frankum, granddaughter of Ribeyes owner Jacob Young. “We are truly devastated by this loss and how it will affect his sweet family, especially his father who we love and appreciate.”
This weekend, Ribeyes will be donating 100 percent of their proceeds from appetizer sales to the Camargos to help pay for Avery’s funeral costs.
Funeral services will be held for Ansley at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 12, 2022, in the McGahee-Griffin and Stewart chapel. Interment will follow in the family cemetery at the home of Curt and Sheena Chambers. The family will receive friends from 2 – 4 and 6 – 8 p.m. on Friday, March 11, 2022, and from 11 a.m. until the service time on Saturday, March 12, 2022, at the funeral home.
No obituary or service details have been released for Camargo.
If you’d like to help either of the families pay for their children’s funeral costs, you can do so through Dawson’s and Avery’s GoFundMe fundraisers.
This article has been updated.
