Lyndsey Vicknair and Ara Duke were shot and killed during Round Rock’s annual Juneteenth festival on June 15.
AUSTIN, Texas — Lyndsey Vicknair was a mother of three, a wife and an attorney. She was also a track mother and co-founder of Austin’s Honey Badgers track club.
On June 20, friends and loved ones who knew her as their fierce leader gathered at Webb Middle School to light up the track in her honor.
Pictures were displayed while several people gathered, holding onto their candles as prayers were said not just for Vicknair, but for Ara Duke, who was also killed during a mass shooting at a Juneteenth event in Round Rock.
Candice Cooper, another a cofounder of the club, said Vicknair and her family were welcomed in about two years ago. Even though she is gone, Cooper said the “light and love” of Vicknair will remain.
“The Vicknair family, again, is a part of our family,” Cooper said. “I’m going to definitely miss her sitting across the table from me and laughing and joking. She you know, she was very serious, though, right? When we gave her a task, she would just get it done.”
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Cooper also said Vicknair’s legacy will shine through her 7-year-old daughter, Kenzi, who is a member of the track club.
“Although her mom is is now in heaven, you know, looking down on us, we have track moms that are here for her,” Cooper said.
Vicknair and Duke were also part of the Austin’s Boys and Girls Club. Vicknair brought her children to the club, while Duke was a school liaison, according to CEO Zenae Campbell.
“She was an integral to our work,” Campbell said of Duke. “So making sure that kids got connected to us were able to attend, connecting with the families of those kids. So our staff dealt with her day in and day out. She strategized with us to ensure that, you know, we were a complement to what was happening in the school day.”
“That certainly hits us hard because that means one of our club kids right now is in a space of needing some some definite support,” Campbell added about Vicknair.
The Duke family has requested if anyone wanted to pay their respects to do so by donating to the Boys and Girls Club in her memory.