Michael Macbeth: 'A Phenomenal Friend' Who Did Anything to Help Family

Friends of a Canton man who died in a one-car crash on Huckleberry Hill Road in Avon just after 2 a.m. on Thursday are coming from all over the country to their hometown to pay tribute to him, the family told Patch.

Calling hours for Michael Macbeth, 24, are Monday, April 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Vincent Funeral Home in Canton and there will be a Mass for him at St. Catherine of Siena in West Simsbury on Tuesday, April 23 at 10 a.m., according to Macbeth's father, Scott. 

“Michael was a phenomenal friend who has tons of life-long friends in the community," Scott Macbeth told Patch on Friday. 

People are flying in from as far as Mexico and Oregon for the memorial arrangements and a group of Michael's friends are driving to Canton together from Colorado. 

“There’s a group of kids who grew up together and are all very close," Scott Macbeth said. "Even if they’ve scattered, they’re all really close."

Michael graduated from Canton High School in 2007 and stuck to his Canton roots. 

"The Macbeth family is a very close family," Brian Macbeth, 27, of Granby, the oldest of Michael's six cousins, wrote in a Facebook message to Patch. He said that there are "very few" occasions that any of them are missing from a family gathering. They get together several times a year.

Michael was the fourth-oldest of the cousins. Their fathers used to take them sledding often together in Canton.
 
"He was always willing to drop every thing when family need something and that is also how us Macbeths are," Brian Macbeth said.

Their grandfather, who passed away last April, taught them that, he said. 

Michael could play any sport, his father said, but soccer was his specialty and he went on to play at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 

"I would have to say Michael was probably the best all around athlete out of all of us and we are a very sports minded family," Brian Macbeth said. 
 
Macbeth describes his son as a young man of many talents. He was an artist, with a knack for drawing.

"I really envy the way Michael lived life," Brian Macbeth said. "He really tried to live it to the fullest."

When Michael was younger, he played guitar. But he was also a writer and a poet who often rapped with his friends and wrote many journals. 
"He really was the most sincere kid you'd ever meet," his friend, Jordan Ahlstrom told Canton Patch Thursday. "He was loved by everyone. He's definitely going to be missed."

Family and others close to Michael have tied a yellow ribbon to a tree near the car accident site and gathered there Thursday to memorialize him. 

A painted heart on the tree reads, "Always together/Never apart, our loves [sic] connected at the heart." 

Vincent Funeral Home is located at 120 Albany Turnpike (Route 44) in Canton and St. Catherine of Siena is located at 265 Stratton Brook Road in West Simsbury. The burial itself will be private and for family members. More information will be provided on Vincent's Facebook page.

Did you know Michael Macbeth? Please share your condolence messages and memories in the comments below.