Most people don’t know much about autism until they have an autistic child of their own.

Luke Perry Fetterrolf didn’t know. When Fetterrolf, a marine officer, passed away due to a motorcycle accident on November 28, 2022, he left behind a wife. and two children, one of whom is autistic and the other who is believed to be autistic as well.

On April 27, Fetterolf’s name will be honored with a dinner and fundraiser in recognition of autism awareness. The first annual Luke Perry Fetterolf Autism Awareness Dinner and Fundraiser will be at 5 p.m. at Weatherford High School. WHS Public Safety Club, WHS Key Club, and The Kiwanis of Weatherford are working together to make this great event happen.

The dinner was organized by Law Enforcement teacher Russel Fletcher. In class, Fletcher said they would always talk about autism and mental health, where they concluded that autism isn’t as well-known as they think. Soon, they had parents come in and talk about mental health and autism. Now is the beginning of what they hope will become an annual event to spread awareness and bring some light to autism.

“We need to make more people aware of what it is and how it impacts everybody,” said Fletcher. In this school, what a lot of teachers who are not special ed teachers say is that they most likely deal with this on a daily basis, probably every single period.”

Fletcher said many teachers may not realize or understand how autism impacts a student’s life.

“You may not understand what they are going through,” Fletcher said. So, this event has gotten to the point where we are doing it as a fundraiser and as an awareness event.”