





window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-3', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 3', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-3', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 3', target_type: 'mix' });



Photo: Courtesy Image 1of/4 Caption Close Image 2 of 4 Justin and his also-deceased sister, Rebekah.  Justin and his also-deceased sister, Rebekah.  Image 3 of 4 Justin Christopher Ware: Sept. 21, 1985 to April 29, 2014.  Justin Christopher Ware: Sept. 21, 1985 to April 29, 2014.  Photo: Courtesy Photo: Courtesy Image 4 of 4 KTSA talk host mourns loss of his son 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Ware, his voice filled with emotion, said he will bury his only son, Justin, on Monday.  He was 28. 

The service will take place in Schertz.  For details, read here. 

“We’re taking it day by day, minute by minute, that’s all we can do,” Ware, who’s helmed the morning talk show on KTSA (550 AM) for 21 years, said tearfully in a phone conversation. 

Circumstances surrounding his son’s death are being kept private at this time. 

It’s the second such loss for the Ware family in recent years. 

On April 22 of 2009, their daughter, Rebekah, died.  She was 20. 

“They were the only two we had,” Ware said, adding: “April is not a good month for us.  We want to expunge April from the calendar.” 

Trey was happy to have spent time with Justin (in the above photo with his dad that was snapped on Sunday) before he died. 

“He was the most talented person I’ve met in my life.  I say that as a proud daddy, but also as a person who knows talent,” said Ware, who’s been on the radio here both as a music disc jockey and a talk show host for 39 years. 

“It didn’t matter what Justin chose to do when he decided to do something, he was the best at it.” 

He never took an interest in sports like his dad did, Ware recalled. “ And I didn’t push him, but let him find his own way.” 

At 12, Justin expressed a desire to learn to play guitar. “ He fell in love with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton… two great ones,” Ware said. “ He learned and studied those guys.  When I would walk by the room and hear him playing, I’d have to stop, to try to figure out if that were him or an album by Stevie or Clapton or Johnny Cash.” 

A friend, Brian Volante, sent this video so you can hear Justin’s magical guitar-twanging for yourself. 

Justin also was a natural at flying and in his chosen line of work: motorcycle mechanic. 

“At about 14, he wanted to learn how to fly — we’ve always had pilots in our family… He soloed at 16,” Ware said. “ I remember his instructor calling and telling me Justin knows more about aerobatics than anyone I’ve ever seen.” 

As a mechanic, his son excelled as well.  Trey, a motorcycle rider himself for more than four decades who knows mechanics, was proud to find that Justin “was the best at that, too.  Anything you’d ask him to do, he’d do it perfectly.  Justin could fix anything. 

“I’m really going to miss him — Nancy and me both,” Ware added. “ We have a very strong faith and belief in God, we also have a strong faith and belief that we will see both of our children again — we’re looking forward to that day more than ever before, when we’ll all be together.” 

For now, Ware, 50, said he’s grateful for the love and support of the hundreds of people who have reached out. 

“You see so much bad going on in the world.  Sometimes, it takes an event like this to see so much good.  So many nice comments, love and prayers,” he said of the outpouring of empathy by friends and listeners on his Facebook page and through e-mails. “ That’s what’s kept us going.” 

His employers and co-workers at KTSA — whom he described as his “second family” — also have been there for him. “ If one of us hurts there, we all hurt,” Ware said. 

Fellow talk hosts have been generously pitching in, he said, to help keep his 5-to-9 a.m. show running smoothly during his grieving period.  Adam McManus, former host at KSLR-AM, also has subbed for Trey these past few days. 

As a mom and someone who has written about the popular and personable radio host for decades — and about Trey’s dad, retired local radio icon, Ricci Ware, before him — I am shocked and deeply saddened by this second huge loss.  My heart goes out to them and others in their family. 

If you’re one of the many S.A. listeners who have enjoyed Trey’s radio shows all these years, and would like to lend your personal words of support, there’s a guestbook section for comments on the Schertz Funeral Home web page, he said. 

“They forward those to us… and we’re so appreciative of all the kind words.” 

Photos: Courtesy of Ware