Loved ones gather for run to honor former Marine killed in Massapequa crash
Patrice Huntley worked to help find other veterans jobs
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Family and friends came out to Flushing Meadows Park in Queens to honor the life of a veteran killed in a Massapequa crash.
Further Coverage: Police: Father and 2 children in Massapequa crash; 2 others critically injured
The CUNY Office of Veteran Affairs held a run to honor Patrice Huntley.
Huntley and two of his children were killed in a high-speed crash on Sunrise Highway on Aug. 6
His granddaughter also died from injuries sustained in the collision.
Huntley was a former Marine and worked to help find other veterans jobs.
Agatha Funes, of the New York State Chaplain Task Force, helped organize the run. She says she remembers Huntley as a man who would do anything to help his fellow veterans.
“We had a homeless veteran going to school, living in a tent and he said, ‘I need to run to McDonalds to get him something to eat,’ Funes says. “And he was just like, ‘I need to do what I need to do to get him services.’”
Other organizers from CUNY also told family members that a scholarship in Huntley’s name is in the works.
“My goal is to help raise funds for a scholarship in his name to help Medgar Evers students and other Student veterans that plan to attend CUNY,” says CUNY Director for Veterans Affairs Central Office Lisa Beatha.
The race symbolized Huntley’s message of hope to always persevere and reach the finish line to achieve your goals.
“That’s the message he was telling us,” Funes says. “I used to cry like, ‘Why don’t people care about veterans?’ and he used to be like, ‘Run the race, win the prize.’
Anyone interested in the scholarship in Huntley's name can email veterans@cuny.edu
