A little library and scholarships honor boy killed in Burlingame crash

The temporary memorial was painstakingly painted in the same colors as a Lego monument Ayden made in the days before his passing. It’s inscribed with “protect our city,” the message he wrote out in the Lego’s bricks, on the other side, his father, Ming Fang, said. 

It’s also an ode to Ayden’s own passion for reading. An avid bookworm, he had completed Burlingame’s 100 Books Before Kindergarten challenge with pride. 

“We were supposed to turn that in that weekend, and he never got the chance to do so,” Fang said. “So there’s a photo of him doing that.” 

Ayden will never get the chance to visit the library, but his father said he’s certain he would have loved the experience of picking out new books to read. 

“If he knows such things existed, he would want to go there every day,” Fang said. 

Two scholarships have also been set up in Ayden’s honor. One is using GoFundMe proceeds donated to the Fang family in the wake of Ayden’s death to fund a scholarship for lower-income students at his school, FSM Montessori, where he thrived. 

Not only did the school foster Ayden’s curiosity about the world around him — he was a “big nerd” who would often ask to do his workbooks before breakfast, Fang said — it also gave him a chance to bond with other children, getting even the shyest of kids out of their shells. 

“He intuitively knew and loved his role as a protector and caretaker of others,” Fang recalled one parent saying of Ayden during a celebration of life at the Montessori school. 

The other scholarship is an endowed program through the U.S. Space and Rocket Center to send a child to a weeklong space camp. Ayden, who was getting to know and develop his passions, loved a particular book about rocketry and the concepts of lift and thrust, often asking his father to throw him into the air. 

“He told [his teacher], I want to be an astronaut, I want to be an ophthalmologist, and I want to be a father,” Fang said. 

These efforts are a way for the family to help Ayden’s dreams and life live on in the world, Fang said. But nothing will ever truly make up for the loss of a child. 

“No matter what we do, we’ll never feel the same,” he said. “But these are, I would say, tokens or gestures from us to feel closer to him, and make his make his laughter last in the physical world that we’re in, and help him help others.”

In the year before Ayden’s death, two other Burlingame pedestrians were also struck and hit by cars. That, combined with Ayden’s message — protect our city — has also made the family begin exploring avenues for pedestrian safety advocacy. 

“It’s astounding that actually happens in the Bay Area, out of all places and in Burlingame, out of all places, that you think [is a] rather idyllic, safe suburb,” Fang said. “But turns out, not the case.” 

Ayden was the type of boy who exuded gratitude, Fang said, thanking his mother over and over again for buying a new type of toothpaste he enjoyed, reading his younger brother books — even when they were upside-down — and living life with unabashed love for those around him. 

“I don’t know what we did to deserve Aiden, I don’t know what we did to deserve not having Ayden,” Fang said. “It’s so unfair for him to miss out on the world, and for the world to miss out on him.”

Those interested in learning more about the scholarships in Ayden’s honor can visit https://forayden.com/ or contact the FSM Montessori school directly at fsmmontessori@gmail.com