Family, friends raise money for 24 Forever scholarship in Pea Ridge

TIMES photograph by Annette Beard

“We have the 24 Forever Memorial Scholarship fund,” Jamie Cotton said. Ayden Cotton, son of Roy and Jamie Cotton, died Jan. 9, 2020. He wore No. 24 as a sophomore on the Blackhawk football team. The Cottons said they were donating all proceeds from the Ayden’s Choice drink sold at Ember Mountain to the fund.
TIMES photograph by Annette Beard “We have the 24 Forever Memorial Scholarship fund,” Jamie Cotton said. Ayden Cotton, son of Roy and Jamie Cotton, died Jan. 9, 2020. He wore No. 24 as a sophomore on the Blackhawk football team. The Cottons said they were donating all proceeds from the Ayden’s Choice drink sold at Ember Mountain to the fund.

PEA RIDGE -- On what would have been his 17th birthday, family and friends held a fundraising drive in honor of Ayden Cotton.

Cotton, 15, died Jan. 9, 2020, after collapsing at work at Webb Feed and Seed.

"We have the 24 Forever Memorial Scholarship fund," Ayden's mother Jamie Cotton said.

She said they raise money throughout the year and give scholarships to graduating seniors from Pea Ridge High School in memory of her son, who wore No. 24 as a sophomore on the Blackhawk football team.

Roy and Jamie Cotton, along with family, friends and members of the football team, were selling t-shirts, giving away cupcakes and donating all proceeds from the Ayden's Choice drink to the fund on Saturday.

They gave out $6,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors of the Class of 2021, she said.

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