Richard J. Wentz, known by his family, friends and colleagues as R.J., knew how to light up a room.

And while humor was his strong suit, Wentz was also an avid video game player and bowler. The Lehighton resident often shared those pastimes with his 11-year-old daughter, Isabel Wentz. Every summer, the two registered for a family bowling league at Cypress Lanes on Fourth Street in Lehighton.

Krystle Heintzelman dated Wentz for almost 13 years. When they first met, Heintzelman said, she thought Wentz was “cute.” But as the two got closer, she saw that Wentz had a “big heart.”

“That’s what attracted me to him the most,” Heintzelman said.

Wentz died in the early morning of March 17. He was 32 years old.

The cause of death is still unknown.

Heintzelman said she hasn’t fully accepted Wentz’s death. She finds herself checking her phone, waiting for him to call and ask her to pick him up from work.

That change — a life without Wentz — is something his entire family is trying to adjust to.

Isabel said her father is in a better place, but still, she misses playing Fortnite with him. Cheryl Wentz, his aunt, often watches the door, expecting her nephew to walk through it. Wentz’s sister, Breanna Hoffner, said her brother sent her a letter, addressed to her college in York. In the note, he promised to be at her graduation.

On the day of Wentz’s funeral, Hoffner stuck a letter of her own into his casket. In it, she promised to always be there for Isabel.

Hoffner had the chance to do just that on Saturday, when she — alongside a number of Wentz’s family members and friends — came out to support a basket raffle held in his honor at the Lehighton Recreation Center. Dozens of local businesses, restaurants and residents donated baskets, gift cards and other items for people to win. All of the proceeds, from raffle ticket sales to the money raised through a bake sale, went into a college fund for Isabel, who wants to go to veterinary school.

Jennifer Bailey, who came up with the idea to host the basket raffle, moved to Lehighton in 1998. That’s when she met Wentz, who lived next door.

“R.J.’s been my best friend since I moved here. We were more like brother and sister,” Bailey said.

“A little girl is going to grow up without her father, so at least a college fund is one less thing she has to worry about in life,” she said.

Mary Kibler and her 5-year-old daughter, Kacey, of New Tripoli, spent almost an hour distributing their raffle tickets.

“It’s just important to support, especially with R.J. having a young daughter,” Kibler said. “You know, my daughter’s so young and I would hate for that to happen.”

“I’m amazed about how many people care about my dad and who want to help me out with my college fund,” Isabel said.

Wentz’s joy was contagious, but some of his family members, like his mother Stephanie Silfies, wonder if he knew just how much he meant to them, and to his community. If Wentz could see just how many people came to support his daughter in his place last weekend, he would have no doubt.

“On one hand, it makes me so happy, because I know everybody loved him,” Silfies said. “But on the other hand, it’s like yes, we all loved him, but he’s not here no more to see how we all loved him.”

“Hopefully, he knows,” she said.