Family of Colton Gleason Establishes Memorial Fund

The family of an Orono High School alum who died last week from injuries sustained during an assault in St. Cloud has established a memorial fund in his honor.

Charity Dirkman was in Florida when she received a phone call last Thursday with news that her 20-year-old was cousin Colton Gleason was clinging to life in a St. Cloud hospital. Gleason died the next day from head trauma.

"He was a good kid, that's for sure," Dirkman said. "He was such an amazing spirit—so loving to his family. This is heartbreaking for everybody, to have to see his parents and brothers go through this."

The Gleason family has set up a memorial fund in Colton's honor. Those wishing to contribute to the fund can do so at any U.S. Bank branch or directly through PayPal by sending funds to CGleasonMemorial@gmail.com.

Click here for instructions on how to use PayPal to donate.

"The money is going toward funeral costs, hospital bills and loss of wages," Dirkman said. "Colton, Justin (Colton's brother) and John (Colton's father) all worked for the family business. Obviously that's shut down right now, and there's no income coming into the family."

A website domain for the memorial, www.Justice4Colton.com, has also been purchased and will be going live in the coming days. Tee shirts will be available on the site, with all proceeds going toward the memorial fund.

Dirkman said a close friend of her cousin's has been the driving force behind the #Justice4Colton Twitter campaign aimed at raising awareness of Colton's death and generating leads for the police investigation. The handle @Justice4Colton has been followed by more than 1,500 people from throughout the world in less than a week.

"We're really, really excited about it—we're all just trying to raise awareness for what has happened," Dirkman said. "We want people to understand what happened to Colton so we can find some justice. We don't want people to forget about him or forget that this has happened."

Dirkman, along with Colton's brother and two sister-in-laws, designed a Justice4Colton logo for the Twitter campaign, which will also appear on tee shirts. A Facebook page has also been started.

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The arrest of a suspect in connection with Gleason's death has brought a measure of closure to the Gleason family, but Dirkman said her family is still struggling to understand why Colton was so viciously attacked—seemingly without provocation.

"It doesn't bring him back, but it's good to know that someone is off the street who could do something like this to our family," Dirkman said. "I'm actually impressed about how things have been going and how quickly things have progressed. It helps ease people's spirits a little bit."

Dirkman said police and those involved in the investigation have been "very helpful and commuicating well," adding that members of the state media have been "understanding" and "not invasive" as the family has begun their grieving process.

Private funeral services for Colton Gleason are scheduled for this Friday at Woodridge Church in Medina.