A Mississippi State student was buried Wednesday after a car accident Saturday took his life.
Senior mechanical engineering major Justin Ledbetter married the woman he loved Aug. 5 and took a honeymoon to the Bahamas.
Saturday, two weeks almost to the hour after his wedding, he died in a car accident while returning to school after visiting his family in Benton.
Ledbetter’s roommate, senior civil engineering major Eric Hattox, said he couldn’t have asked for a better friend.
“Every night he would come in and just talk to me . . . And it didn’t matter what we were talking about, he was just sitting there wanting to talk and be friendly,” Hattox said.
Ledbetter, 22, died about 6 p.m. Saturday after an accident on I-55 near Vaiden.
His wife, Mississippi University for Women nursing student Rachel Perry Ledbetter, was also in the car. She suffered injuries to a foot and remained in the hospital Tuesday night.
“He treated her like she was a million dollars,” Hattox said.
Justin Ledbetter’s aunt, Kathy Ledbetter, remembered him as an obedient, sweet boy who grew into a kind young man and a good student with close to a 4.0 grade point average.
“He has a younger sister who’s two years younger than he is, and he was always so kind and sweet to her, and she was the boss and he just kind of did what she told him to do,” she said.
Senior psychology major Jake Donald, whose fiancܬe introduced him to Justin Ledbetter, said he was extremely intelligent and never made anybody feel unwanted.
“He always went out of his way to make you feel special, make you feel important,” he said. “Justin was a good guy to talk to anytime you needed encouraging words.”
The Ledbetters’ wedding was simple and personal, a worshipful time for the congregation, Donald said.
“Both of them are very strong Christians and would always be a spiritual encouragement for me in my life.”
Justin Ledbetter played baseball at Holmes Community College before he came to MSU. He co-oped at Weyerhauser in Columbus.
“Whatever the best guy you can ever think about, that’s him,” Hattox said. “Words can’t explain it, and every time I picture his face, I just well up.”