Friends and family will remember Stuart Brooks for his sense of humor.

Late Saturday afternoon the 24-year-old from Decatur was killed when he ran his motorcycle into the back of a pickup in Fannin County.

Brooks was eastbound on U.S. 82, just east of Bonham, when the accident occurred. A Dodge 3500 pickup in front of him, driven by Gary Mills of Dodd City, stopped to turn left onto County Road 2900 when Brooks crashed his Suzuki motorcycle into the back of the pickup and was killed, according to information obtained from the Texas Highway Patrol office in Sherman.

Brooks was riding to Paris to visit his niece who was born that morning. The accident occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. Mills was uninjured in the wreck.

Brooks’ outgoing personality and positive outlook on life will live beyond him.

“He was always cutting up, always loud, always making everyone around him laugh,” said Kaleb Elledge.

Elledge played in the Decatur High School Band with Brooks. He lost track of Brooks after graduation but recently ran into him again at a paintball facility in Boyd.

“My wife and I were at Paintball Paradise and I saw this guy who had a funny looking panda hat on,” Elledge said. “I couldn’t see his face because of all the paintball equipment. He took off his mask and it was Stuart. He was working as a referee there. Now every picture I see of him he’s wearing that panda hat.

“He made people laugh all the time. I can’t ever remember him being serious. Maybe everybody should be a little more like that.”

The funeral is 10 a.m. Wednesday at Immanuel Baptist Church in Decatur with burial at Lonestar Cemetery.