Caleb Logan Bratayley, the YouTube star who died at age 13, was remembered by friends and family during an emotional memorial on Tuesday.
The service, which began at 8 p.m. ET, started with a video of highlights from Caleb’s short life, including a visit to Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn campaign headquarters, and footage of Caleb playing music with his family in Revolutionary War-era costumes.
The service streamed live on Facebook and Periscope. As it got underway, more than 38,000 people watched the stream on Facebook, posting messages including, “We love you,” “I’m literally crying” and “rest easy sweet boy.”
One of Caleb’s cousins choked back tears as she recalled his impact on her.
“He changed my life… he was like a little brother to me,” she recalled, adding, “He loved life, he enjoyed every little bit, even if it was something that he didn’t necessarily enjoy doing.”
“I will miss him to my very, very core,” family friend Paula added, breaking down in tears. “There truly won’t be a day where I won’t think about him, and how he impacted everyone around him.”
Caleb was also described as a team player by one of his baseball coaches.
“He was always respectful,” the coach said. “He would do anything to help his team.”
Caleb died Thursday. His family initially blamed his death on “natural causes.” Although a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County, Maryland, police department told TheWrap that officers responded to Bratayley’s family home for a “medical emergency.” He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. No signs of drugs or violence were found, authorities said.
On Monday, Caleb’s family explained that tests had revealed he died “from an undetected medical condition.”
The family came into the public eye in 2010, when they began posting daily vlogs. At the time of this publishing, the family’s YouTube channel has more than 1.6 million subscribers.
Caleb also had his own channel, FlimsyArrow, on which he posted videos about playing the video game Minecraft. That channel has over 113,000 subscribers.