Lincoln student wants to use leftover funds from totaled car to honor late father

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – It’s funny how sometimes in life, something good can come out of a bad situation.

Lincoln Northeast student Preston Yager had his car stolen and totaled earlier this week.

“It was like, you know, a state of shock,” he said. “What happened for my car to be totaled like this?”

To Preston, the car was more than just a car. It was a connection to his father, Kenneth E. Locker Jr., who was killed in Iraq, when Preston was only two years old.

“I ask my mom all the time: What was he like? What did he do in life? How was he as a person?” Preston said.

Preston’s mom Mary Jo says her son is the spitting image of his father, from his personality, to his physical stature, all the way down to his toes.

“He’s his twin,” she said. “There’s times where he can just look at me and make a face and I’ll just be like, ‘That’s your dad.'”

Mary Jo was able to buy a car for her son in October of 2021 with military benefit money left over for him.

“It’s helped out a lot, because I don’t have to take him everywhere,” she said. “Because he’s a very busy boy.”

A football player, a wrestler and a member of the junior ROTC at Northeast, Preston says he felt his dad’s presence every time he stepped foot into that car.

“I didn’t really tell anybody about how I got the money for the car,” he said. “But whenever I got into the car, it would mainly be like, ‘Dad’s helped me out again. He’s getting me to and from school, getting me to and from practice, getting me home.'”

Shortly after the accident, a GoFundMe page was set up to help Preston get a new car. He says he’s been getting updates ever since the page was set up.

“I would have people telling me, ‘Hey, have you checked the GoFundMe for you? It’s up another $500!'” Preston said.

As of Friday evening, $9500 has been raised, more than enough money for Preston to get a new car.

As Preston puts it, he is not “a gimme, gimme person.” He knows how frustrating the past few days have been for him. He wants to use the extra money to help others.

Just like his dad would.

“He’s like, ‘Mom, once we get the car, and with the extra funds that are there, we need to pay it forward,'” Mary Jo recalled.

“I had the idea, why not just go out and help somebody else who could possibly be in a situation like mine,” Preston said. “Just get them a car, and hopefully, they don’t have to experience anything like this.”

“Let’s pay it forward,” Mary Jo recalls her son saying. “Let’s continue it.”

“And it’s going to be all in honor of dad.”