May 22 benefit remembers Braxton Raymond

Braxton Raymond died too young at 22 but family and friends and are keeping his memory alive with a memorial benefit in Kasson on May 22.
Braxton played basketball, first in St. Peter and then in Kasson-Mantorville.
“He just loved basketball,” said his mother Cyndi.
He got his start in basketball in St. Peter, his mother said, and played for St. Peter High School as a ninth grader. The family then moved to Kasson where he played the rest of his high school career as a KoMet.
After high school, he was attending Williston State when he was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2018. He died 14 months later in October of 2019.
Braxton had a group of close friends in St. Peter, his mother said, and they remained friends even after he moved to Kasson. And, he found a new group of friends at Kasson-Mantorville. The St. Peter group and the KM group became friends and in the time before Braxton died a group of KM alumni and St. Peter alumni met on the basketball court.
Even though he couldn’t play in that game, she remembered, he just wanted his friends to see each other for basketball and intended to play with them the next time they got together.
After Braxton’s the idea of a memorial basketball game to keep his memory alive and raise funds for things important to him to root.
In December 2019 the first memorial game fundraiser was played between the Stewartville Tigers and the KoMets boys basketball teams with the monies raised going for scholarships at both St. Peter and Kasson-Mantorville and to organizations that were important to Braxton.
The COVID-19 pandemic put the memorial on hold for 2020 but plans were made to continue in 2021 although a basketball game was not in the cards due to continuing pandemic restrictions.
Instead organizers came up with the idea for an event outside at Veterans Memorial Park, next to the Kasson Pool.
The daylong event will include a BBQ dinner of pulled pork, salad, chips and dessert served from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., a Cornhole Tournament beginning at 1 p.m. as well as a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, and, of course, some basketball competitions. Anyone wishing to donate an item for the auction should contact Tailor Raymond at 507-430-3944.
Proceeds from the event will go to Braxton’s Memorial Fund to provide scholarships for Kasson-Mantorville and St. Peter students and donations to the Shriners Children’s Hospital and the American Brain Tumor Association.
The fund has also donated more than 150 basketballs to the Shriners Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House basketball and soccer balls to elementary schools in both St. Peter and Kasson-Mantorville.
Since the this year’s event is outside, masks are not required but are encouraged. Come, enjoy the day, but be mindful of social distancing and if sick, please stay home.