Walking in his shoes

The late Brian Landry’s clothing to serve as strong message to other youth, parents

By: Cara Latham
   HIGHTSTOWN — When East Windsor resident Jill Landry was preparing to get married, she took her son, Brian, then 7 years old, along for a day of wedding dress shopping.
   Ms. Landry, now Jill Johnston, recalls that Brian sat there all day, disapproving of the wedding dresses she picked out. Then, he grabbed a dress of his own choosing and dragged it over to her.
   "He said, ‘Here, mommy. Try this on,’ " said Ms. Johnston. "And that was my wedding dress. He had that eye."
   Now Brian Landry’s sense of style may not only rub off on others, but it may also deliver a more serious message — for teenagers to avoid drugs, and for parents to look for signs that their children may be abusing them.
   Brian — a 17-year-old Hightstown High School lacrosse player, wrestler and debate team member — died Aug. 26 from heroin laced with fentanyl, a pharmaceutical painkiller that is 80 times more powerful than morphine.
   After his death, Ms. Johnston wanted to become more active in community efforts, and one way was donating his clothes to the new Greater Goods thrift store on Mercer Street, she said. She also volunteers there once a week.
   Greater Goods is one of the services of the Community Action Service Center, a nonprofit organization based in Hightstown and serving eastern Mercer County. The community-based thrift store benefits local community outreach services through donations from local residents, and serves families in Hightstown and East Windsor.
   Ms. Johnston and thrift store volunteers spent their time last week attaching tags to Brian’s clothing and placing them on hangers. The tags, printed free by Triangle Repro of East Windsor, list his school activities, how he died, and the message for parents to talk to their kids — and vice versa.
   "I don’t want another parent to have to bury their child," she said. "That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life."
   After Brian’s death, Ms. Johnston contacted parents of other teens she felt she knew were doing drugs. Two out of five were in denial, she said.
   "We got a lot of ‘No, not my kid,’ " she said. "And I want to change that misconception. I thought not my kid, either."
   Ms. Johnston said she found out at an East Windsor Municipal Drug/ Alcohol Alliance Committee meeting, the night before bringing Brian’s clothes to the store, "the drug situation in this town is rampant, to say the least."
   In addition to spreading awareness, Ms. Johnston said donating her son’s clothes to Greater Goods was a "perfect fit" in more ways than one. That’s because the money used to purchase his clothes will go toward funding a social service agency that focuses on drug and alcohol prevention and family support, said Amanda Porter, director of development for Greater Goods.
   A summer camp program run by CASC helps children ages 5 through 13 cope with pressure from their peers to use drugs and alcohol.
   "As an agency, we want to do everything we can to reach kids and families while it’s not too late," said Ms. Porter.
   Ms. Johnston said she also hopes that it "would bring out a lot of the community to one, have a piece of him, and two, to contribute to a great cause, which is this thrift store."
   And those who come to the store will have hundreds of choices — from suits, to shirts, to hats, to shoes
   "Brian was a clothes horse," said Ms. Johnston. "He had an image where if somebody tried to mimic him, he would change his style. He was just unique."
   For example, he would wear two shirts because he would have two different color collars, she said.
   Ms. Johnston said she would "beam with pride" if she saw someone else wearing his clothes after purchasing them from the store because for her, it means that he lives on in everybody.
   Donating his clothes is helping her cope as well.
   "I had a tragic loss, but it doesn’t mean I have to be selfish about it," she said, adding that she kept one box of his personal belongings that held memories, and even gave some things to Brian’s friends.
   "I have my memories here," she said pointing to her heart.
   Ms. Porter said Greater Goods was very grateful for the donations.
   "For us, it’s very powerful to see her cope with such a painful loss by doing something so generous," she said. "There are plenty of other ways she could have chosen to deal with it. To do this is a lot harder."
   And Brian would not have had a problem with donating his clothes, either. In fact, his mother said, he went to the Greater Goods yard sales before the thrift store opened and purchased a lawn chair made of skis. He even encouraged her to donate a deceased uncle’s clothes to charity two years ago, Ms. Johnston said.
   "Brian was not a selfish child; he was not a selfish teenager," she said. "He would give you the shirt off his back, and I think he would fully approve of this."
   "And he would probably be up there going, ‘That doesn’t look good on him,’ " she joked.