Redan High junior Marquez “Thirst” Montgomery will be laid to rest Saturday with the school band memorializing him with music.

They will perform his favorite cadence, ER, which members created themselves.

Marquez, 18, was one of three students involved in a March 16 crash that took place less than a mile from the school.

The Madza Protege he was driving crashed into a tree after he collided with a Hyundai driven by Johnny Holiday at the intersection of Fox Valley Lane, about a mile from his school.

As of press time Thursday no charges had been filed in connection with the accident.

DeKalb Police Officer Jason Gagnon said they are still investigating and will re-create the accident next week to see if charges are necessary.

Schoolmate Ramon Casey, 16, a back-seat passenger in Marquez’s car, was critically injured and is in stable condition at Grady Memorial Hospital. The third student, Bruno Blanchard, 18, was uninjured.

Friends and teachers, who are still processing the death of their close friend and student, said this week that music was Marquez’s life.

He was a percussionist and trumpet player in the school’s Blue Thunder Marching Band. Marquez also knew how to play the cymbals, the snare drum, the xylophone and the bass drum. Band instructor Lorenzo Moore said he could pick up any instrument and learn it in a short time.

His friends said Marquez he was musically gifted.

“He loved to make beats,” said his friend and fellow band member Kerry McPhearson. “He was making a beat in the music lab the day before he died.”

Marquez’s homegoing service will be at 11 a.m. on March 20 at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, 2340 Clifton Springs Road in Decatur.

Shajuanda Webb, a senior and trumpet player, said Thursday that a lot of people are in a state of disbelief.

“When they see the casket it is going to hit them hard,” she said Wednesday. “It’s going to hit me hard. I’m not ready to say goodbye.”

School counselors are available to help students’ process their grief; Moore didn’t wait for students to ask for help. He took a marker to white board Wednesday to get his students talking about Marquez’s positive qualities. They remembered him as a loving person. Shajuanda said he was the heart and soul of the band’s line.

“He taught me a lot and I know he taught other students, too.”