MIAMI — As draft day dawned on South Florida, John and Barbara Cason parked their pickup near the back fence at Caballero Rivero Dade North cemetery and stepped outside. They have come here often, to think and pray, in the six months since their daughter’s death.
Dana Smith was 44 when she died Oct. 27 after a heart attack. She left behind three boys: Artie, now 21, Thomas, 16, and Jordan, 13. With their father stuck in a South Carolina prison since 2006, she had raised the boys to be dreamers, as devoted as they were driven.
Draft day had to begin here, with her.