Mason Alford remembered as fun, outgoing teen

Fifteen-year-old Mason David Lee Alford was remembered as a sweet kid, very loving, kind and outgoing after an accidental shooting Jan. 3 near Dixon.

“He was a beautiful soul,” Britney Alford Pinter, Mason’s older sister said. “No one will ever be like him.”

Family members are raising money on GoFundMe to cover funeral expenses. About $4,000 of the $9,475 goal had been raised as of Tuesday.

Mason Alford and a 12-year-old where handling a loaded shotgun when the accident happened, the authorities said.

Sheriff Eric Clark said he knows the family personally and asked for prayers. The Sheriff stressed the importance of firearm safety.

“Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, treat every firearm as if it is loaded and keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot,” he said. 

Alford, the son of James and Becky Alford, was homeschooled and lived in the Linwood and Dixon communities all of his life. 

“He enjoyed spending time with his family, friends and everything a 15-year-old liked to do,” his father said.

James Alford said that that included hunting, fishing, riding four wheelers and hanging out with friends and family.

“We are a close-knit family,” James Alford said.

When asked to describe his son, James Alford took a long pause.

“I don’t know that they have made a word for that,” he said. “There are no words in my mind. He was just awesome and full of love.”

Alford was buried Jan. 8 in the Garden of Love Family Cemetery in Neshoba County.

“He always said it was better to ask for forgiveness before permission,” his mother Becky Alford said. “He gave his all on everything.”

His sister said that Mason was the second youngest of her siblings. “The baby next to the baby,” as she put it. He was 12 years younger than she is.

“He looked up to me,” she said. “He was my little sidekick.”

She remembered one time when she got an early-morning call — probably around 3 a.m. — from her brother. She said he was staying at an uncle’s place and felt he needed to go home because it was his mother’s birthday. 

“He said he was upset and wanted to be home on mama’s birthday,” she said.