One day, Deklyn Dean Lemp was a healthy baby boy. The next thing his parents knew, the Casper 14-month-old died in his sleep of a mysterious ailment.
Those parents, Samantha and Steve Lemp, were devastated by his loss and struggled to come to grips with what went wrong.
Doctors technically classified little Deklyn’s death as accidental, but there’s no real answer. The closest they could come was sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which no longer applies to children over a year old.
Not knowing has made it harder for the couple to accept his 2017 death.
“Everyone wanted to be able to blame something, and we couldn't, and that made it even more difficult,” Samantha said.
Not only did Deklyn’s death leave a hole in his family, but it also reverberated through a close-knit dart community in Wyoming where was raised.
Though too young to be a player himself, he was the smiling baby boy of dart players, doted on by everyone, and could point out a bulls-eye by the time he was 6 months old.
As often happens after tragedy, the community circled its wagons to help the Lemps by putting together a fundraiser to offer financial support while also providing their family with emotional support.
Now the annual tournament means more, keeping alive the memory of a baby who never got to grow up and throw his own bulls-eyes.
The Lemps were touched by the gesture and appreciated the opportunity to celebrate their son’s short life.
‘Child Death Is Taboo’
That’s the thing about losing a child, Samantha said. Death is uncomfortable in general, but when it’s a child it’s that much worse.
“Child death is taboo,” she said. “No one wants to talk about it because it's a touchy subject, and it makes people feel awkward at times.”
But for the Lemps, it means a lot to celebrate Deklyn’s life and keep his memory alive.
And because they appreciated the help they’d received, they wanted to pay it forward to others while honoring their son.
In 2017, they launched the first Deklyn Dean Summer Shootout — a dart tournament that brings players together from all over Wyoming and has since grown into the largest tournament of its kind.
This year was the eighth for the event.
The focus of the fundraiser is to bring families together in a game that they love while raising money to help others.
Over the years, they’ve supported a number of local groups and nonprofits, including the Wyoming chapter of the national TEARS Foundation that provides help with funeral expenses, grief support groups and other services.
This year, all proceeds go to the Casper-based Here to Help Foundation, which serves many needs, from feeding families and helping with emergency financial assistance as well as promoting suicide awareness and prevention.
Along with raising money, the tournament brings families together while encouraging youth to participate in the sanctioned sport, Samantha said.
Runs In The Family
Darts is very much a family-friendly sport, Samantha said, despite it being a game that’s typically played in bars and other drinking establishments.
It’s also a growing group with around 300 dart players in Wyoming, Samantha estimated.
It also runs in the family.
Both Samantha and her sister, Maggie Presfield, grew up with parents who played darts and have continued the tradition, including with Deklyn, who loved being at Gran Board dart tournaments with his dad and hanging out with his parents at games and tournaments.
The Lemps have since had another son, Brody, who also appreciates tagging along and playing with other kids in the junior events that offer toys and other prizes.
“It’s a big deal in the dart community and really cool for the kids,” Presfield said.
A big part of darts, Samantha said, is spending time with friends and family and making memories. It’s also about appreciating the small things and not taking life for granted.
“You never know when someone's going to depart,” Samantha said. “So, we wanted an event that everybody can come to and make memories, so that when inevitably we do lose somebody, we can reflect back on those cool events and the time we got to spend together.”
It also means a lot to memorialize their child for a good cause helping Wyoming communities.
“We’re kind of bringing him back to life and celebrating his memory,” Samantha said. “It means a lot to be able to do that.”
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
