Tyre Nichols will be remembered as a man who touched everyone around him, who put a light in others’ lives and always had a smile on his face. 

Around 50 people, including family, friends and coworkers, attended the memorial service for Nichols at M.J. Edwards Funeral Home on the edge of Orange Mound. Two large photos of Nichols were displayed on either side of the podium. One was a photo of Nichols as a child, and the other was a photo of him dressed in a button-up shirt and waistcoat. 

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Although speakers were given only three minutes to talk, loved ones filled up the nearly hour-long memorial service with memories and positive words about Nichols. 

“(He was) always like a free spirit,” said Keyana Dixon, his older sister, during a recent phone interview with The Daily Memphian. “He was just always true to himself. Like, whatever passions he had, anything that he wanted to do, he did. He did it freely and unapologetically. And that’s what drew people to him was his, his free spirit of not fitting in a box of any kind. And he’s always been that way since a kid.”

Nichols, 29, died Jan. 10, three days after being injured during an incident with Memphis police officers. 

Nichols was was just three blocks away from his Southeast Memphis home when he was injured by police, according to his stepfather, Rodney Wells.

Dixon, as well as several others who attended the service, wore memorial T-shirts honoring Nichols that read, “Skate in peace,” above a photo of him smiling. 

“I never thought I’d see his face on a T-shirt,” Dixon said during the service.

During a phone interview days before the service, Dixon said the last time she spoke with Nichols was New Year’s Eve.

“I was like, well, ‘Happy New Year. I love you. I’ll see you soon,’ ” Dixon said. “And nine days later, he was beat to death.

“I don’t have my voice right now, because I screamed from the bottom of my stomach, from the bottom of my soul (when I found out he died).”

Wells said he never had a son until he and Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, got married in the early 2010s following her relocation to Memphis.

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“From the first time I met Tyre, I was pops. I was dad,” Wells said. “On the first father’s day, he brought me a father’s day present.”

Nichols and Wells worked together at FedEx in the supply chain department. Nichols had worked there for about nine months, Wells said. 

“We were on the same shift,” Wells said. “So everybody knew him, knew me.”

Nichols’ coworker Sierra Rogers said she last worked with him Friday, Jan. 6. The next day, she tried texting him but didn’t get a response. 

“I came to work looking for him, and that’s when I found out what happened,” she said. 

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Among the family members Nichols leaves are a five-year-old son, three siblings, his mother, stepfather and grandmother. 

Wells said Nichols’ two older brothers were born in Oakland, California, but his mother moved them to Sacramento before Nichols was born. 

Jamal Dupree, one of Nichols’ brothers, said Nichols never had a criminal history and only had two speeding tickets his entire life. 

“I’ve been in the streets,” Dupree said at a rally the day before the memorial service. “Not my brother. At the end of the day, my brother did not deserve this at all.”

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Dixon said Nichols got into skateboarding when he was 11 or 12 and continued skateboarding through adulthood, despite multiple injuries sustained over the years, including broken bones.

“We would always crack jokes on him,” Dixon said. “Like, what are you doing? Because typically, most black kids don’t skateboard in our neighborhood where we come from. He’d say, ‘what, just because I’m 6’3” and I’m black, I’m supposed to play basketball?’ ” 

Nichols also had a passion for photography. 

“He actually photographed my whole wedding for me,” Dixon said. “So just looking at my wedding pictures is amazing.”

Latoya Yizar, Nichols’ godsister, said despite their age difference, they grew up as siblings.

“I was in high school, and he was in elementary school … but we ended up walking to school together,” Yizar said. “He was a happy kid, just so goofy. … He turned out to be a good man. He never had a fight. He would never raise his voice. He always had a smile on his face.” 

Nichols positively impacted strangers, as well. He made friends with Nate Spates Jr. and Perry Williams at Starbucks in Saddle Creek, where they would sit and talk with each other five days a week. 

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“God shined on us by giving us him,” Williams said. 

Spates brought his family to Starbucks on Thanksgiving, where they met Nichols for the first time.

”After we left, my wife said, ‘I really liked his soul,’ ” Spates said. “It’s one thing to say something about somebody as a person. But when you reference their soul, that’s deep.”

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Friends and family are planning a special memorial service for Nichols in Sacramento, where they will hold a tribute at his favorite skatepark. 

Angelina Paxton said she attended the service in Memphis to represent Nichols’ friends in California. 

“If this service had been in California, there would have been a couple thousand people right now,” Paxton said.