James Ryan Shawver, 19, accounting sophomore, died in a car accident returning from another student’s funeral on Aug. 26.

Shawver was a member of Phi Kappa Alpha, part of the Student Government and almost any other student activity he could fit in, Daniel “Blue” Rumbley, close friend and fraternity brother, said.

As a member of the Phi Kappa Alphas, Shawver dealt with alumni relations. He was in training to become the treasurer after one year of membership.

Shawver was a dedicated member to his fraternity and cared a lot about his brothers, Chastity Hilgert, secondary education english sophomore, said.

“Everything to him was family, Pike and friends,” she said.

Shawver was a North Carolina Tarheels fan.

“It is why we got along so well,” Rumbley said, “as well as a Louisville Cardinals fan. Shawver was a person that could almost always be relied on to join a basketball or a pick-up game.

As for his local sporting fun, every Thursday night he would join his fraternity brothers in a bowling excursion.

“He loved being with his friends so much, that during school semesters, he hardly left campus,” Sara Forester, elementary education senior, said. “You’d always find him on couches in random offices sleeping. He never wanted to leave here, not because he didn’t want to go home, but because he wanted to spend time with everyone.”

Forester and Josh Pavey, political science sophomore, know him as the black guy with white skin, and the guy that talked like someone from the ghetto but was from Palmyra.

Two consistent personality traits that always were attributed to Shawver were his smiling face and listening ear to greet people.

“He was there for me when I needed someone,” Hilgert said. “He would talk to people until all hours [of the morning].”

A candlelight vigil held on Aug. 27, invited friends and family to gather around McCullough Plaza to celebrate his character and what his life meant to them.

“Ryan was a hell of a guy,” Rumbley said. “A hell of a lot of character, a true testament to his parents and the way they raised him.”

To his fraternity brothers and friends, Shawver was a humorous guy joking about everything possible. He treated everyone the same way he wanted to be treated, a dedicated worker to whatever he did.

In one word, many described him as amazing.

“On his headstone there will be two dates, the day he was born and the day he died. But those aren’t the most important things on there,” Pavey said. “Between those two numbers is a dash, and that dash represents everything he did in his life.”

By Grace Stamper
staff writer
gstamper@ius.edu