Ball State student Mike Rabourn, 22, had the woman of his dreams, a goal for his future and a smile that was contagious to everyone around.
Rabourn was a junior at Ball State, majoring in business entrepreneurship. He had plans to start his own real estate business and to get his father involved when he graduated.
On Saturday May 24, Rabourn proposed to his long-term girlfriend, Ball State student Katherine Ward.
The following Monday Rabourn was riding his motorcycle with his father, Jeff Rabourn, and planned to tell his family and friends the news of his engagement afterward.
Rabourn never got that chance.
On Monday, while Rabourn and his father drove westbound on Stop 11 Road in Indianapolis, a 16-year-old boy fell asleep at the wheel while heading eastbound on the same road.
At the 1800 block of Stop 11 Road, the teen's car crossed into Rabourn's lane knocking Rabourn from his motorcycle, and Rabourn was hit by another car.
A Marion County Sheriff's lieutenant told the Indianapolis Star that Rabourn was taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Rabourn owned his motorcycle and rode frequently with his father and brother, Matt Rabourn, 25.
Professor Thomas Harris remembered Rabourn as a quiet, hardworking student.
"Mike was a super nice guy and a real good, solid, steady student," Harris said. "He was the kind of student you liked to have [in class]."
While at Ball State Rabourn spent time playing polo and working on cars.
"Mike was very personable and always had a smile on," his sister Michelle Qualls, 28, said. "He always looked toward the brighter things."
Rabourn and his sister were very close. Qualls remembered how her brother would come over and play with her two boys, one age 7 and the other 8 months.
"My 7-year-old knew him best," Qualls said. "He can make you smile just like Mike could."
Rabourn was a 2000 graduate of Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis and a member of Indian Creek Christian Church where his service was held on Saturday.
Rabourn was buried at Acton Cemetery in Indianapolis.
Rabourn is survived by his parents Jeff A. and Nancy E. Boggs Rabourn; brother, Matt J. Rabourn; sister, Michelle J. Qualls; and grandmothers Beulah M. Rabourn and Bernadine A. Boggs.
Memorials can be sent to the Epilepsy Foundation or to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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