by SEAN KIMMONS
A 2009 Hays High School graduate who was killed in a one-vehicle crash along RM 967 near Driftwood last week was remembered as a caring and talented artist.
Adrian Nicholas Acosta, 18, of Manchaca, was driving eastbound when his 2003 Nissan sedan left the roadway and struck a telephone pole early June 2. He was pronounced dead at the scene around 7 a.m., a Department of Public Safety official said.
Excessive speed was determined to be a factor in the crash, which occurred about a mile south of FM 1826, the official said.
Acosta’s mother, Marie Pinson, said that her son, the eldest of six children, was definitely one of a kind.
“He lived life to the fullest every single day,” she said. “All he ever wanted to do was to make people smile.”
In his short life, Acosta had many talents that he loved to show off, Pinson said.
Whether it was singing, skateboarding, drawing, his video game prowess or back-flipping off structures, he always aimed to please, she said.
“There were so many great things about him,” she said.
She recalled that when her son got his first skateboard in middle school, he was so excited that he even slept with it in bed.
“It would go everywhere with him,” she laughed. “It was his girlfriend.”
Acosta, who worked at Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, aspired to be the lead singer of a rock band, Pinson said.
At the time of his death, Acosta was living with his grandparents in Buda.
On Monday, hundreds of mourners gathered for Acosta’s chapel service in Kyle and his burial at Onion Creek Memorial Park in Austin.
The immense popularity of Acosta was revealed in the service, which was standing-room only, as well as the funeral procession that stretched a mile and a half long, Pinson said.
“I want to thank everybody for their love and their support,” she said.
