Country music singer Granger Smith’s wife celebrates her 'brightest lights' as she copes with the loss of son River

By Kate Roush

It has been almost two months since the tragic passing of country music star Granger Smith’s youngest son. Now, his wife Amber is focusing on their other two children while remembering the child they lost.

A drowning accident in early June left the Smith family without 3-year-old, River Kelly. Sharing the story on Instagram and Twitter throughout the weeks that followed, the singer and his wife have been openly coping with their heartbreaking loss.

“In my house, we have united stronger and closer than we’ve ever been. We’ve cried. We’ve smiled. I’ve held my family tight,” Granger wrote on Instagram.

In this time of grieving, wife and mom Amber Smith took to the platform on Monday, July 29, to share sweet photos of River’s siblings.

View this post on Instagram

“Suffering produces in us endurance and character and hope. It steadies us in our faith and deepens its roots in order that we may be able to weather any storm. It makes us reach forward to greater things than we can see right now, but that we know for sure not only exist, but will be ours at the last.” Excerpt from the book Bronner by @momgirl777 . This book is magic. After dinner drive and walk to the lake. The smiles on these faces are some of the brightest lights in the dark. ❤️

A post shared by Amber Smith (@amberemilysmith) on Jul 29, 2019 at 6:42pm PDT

The smiles on daughter London, 7, and son Lincoln, 5, are “the brightest lights in the dark,” according to Amber's caption. The post features a selfie with their mom in Georgetown, Texas, and a second photo shows the two striking a pose lakeside.

Beginning the caption with a quote, Amber shares an excerpt from the book "Bronner," written by another mother who lost her son to drowning.

An outcry of support from fans and celebrities alike has filled the comments since River’s passing.

Amber's post led Jason Aldean’s wife, Brittany, to comment "💙💙💙." Cat & Nat, the mom-authors and podcasters, wrote “You’re a great mama💗.”

With the loss of their son’s life, the couple decided that his organs could save the lives of others. On July 13, Amber explained in an emotional post that a 49-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man were the recipients of her late son’s organs.

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I’ve always known I wanted to be a donor if anything were to ever happen to me. I just felt that if I had viable organs, why would I go into the ground with them? My spirit would be in Heaven, so why not save a life if I could? Never in a million years did I think I would be making that decision for my baby. When 3 different neuro specialists told us that River had 0% chance of brain recovery (yes 0, not 10 or 1%, 0) after shock and reality set in, I thought, how can we bury our sweet baby and not try to help others? His body is perfect, his organs are perfect, we had to do something. There are so many people waiting for an organ to save their lives. The doctors said donation was quite a process. We would have to search for viable recipients and it could take days. We knew River’s spirit was in Heaven, but we couldn’t bear to watch his tiny, earthly body be pumped full of all the medicines for 3 or more more days while they searched. They tried to expedite the process so our family could be in peace, told us they would take him back to operate the next morning, but we wouldn’t know what organs could be used until after. With such a small body, organs had to be measured physically, not just by X-ray. I spent the night laying in bed with him, crying and talking to him while they kept running tests and taking blood. The next morning family and staff lined the hall for the “walk of honor”. We told them River liked to go fast, so to honor him, they pushed him down that hall faster than they had ever pushed anyone. Granger and I held each other and cried. We got the letter that our tiny, red-headed hero gave life to 2 adults. A 49 year old woman and a 53 year old man. I cried when we opened it. Cried out of sadness & cried out of love. I’m so proud to be River’s mama and I’m so grateful to God that he gave him to us for those incredible 3 years. I pray these 2 recipients live healthy, joy filled, full throttle lives just like Riv. It was one of the hardest, yet easiest, decisions we’ve ever made. There are over 113,000 people waiting for transplants & 20 people die each day waiting. Go to OrganDonor.gov to see how you can help give life as well. ❤️

A post shared by Amber Smith (@amberemilysmith) on Jul 13, 2019 at 11:25am PDT

“His body is perfect, his organs are perfect, we had to do something…I pray these 2 recipients live healthy, joy filled, full throttle lives just like Riv,” she said.