Kenny Hirsch, a best friend since their elementary school years, celebrated his own 20th birthday in February, and was there this month to help Brandon mark his milestone.

Hirsch’s older sister, Maddie Hughes, arrived after the party had been going for a little while, and when Hirsch saw her, he ran to her, grabbed her hand, and asked if she remembered the song that was playing.

They grew up listening to Elton John, so naturally, his “Tiny Dancer” struck a chord.

“Let’s dance,” Hirsch told Maddie.

“We just started swinging around in a circle singing the words to Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer,’ ” she said.

That party was the last time she saw him.

That’s just one of the moments that has come to her during the past few days. Memories are keeping the people who knew and loved Hirsch and Carter going, as they deal with the crushing loss of both young men. The two friends died Sunday, following an accident near Olney late Friday night.

Carter was riding a 4-wheeler and Hirsch was on a motocross dirt bike south of Olney late Friday when the accident occurred. Both men died Sunday in Wichita Falls.

Their families and the friends they have made over the years — close to home in Olney and from across the county — will come together Saturday in the auditorium of their alma mater, Olney High School, to remember them.

As they mourn, they also know the two young men’s lives have offered several people new beginnings.

As the families were just beginning to come to terms with the heartbreaking realities, they found themselves faced with many decisions. One of those was whether to donate their beloved sons’ organs.

“They both chose to donate their sons’ organs and help other families,” said Pam Silvestri with the Southwest Transplant Alliance. Lifesaving heart, liver and kidney transplants, among others, took place, offering new chances at life to patients who ranged in age from their 20s to 60s.

The reality that Kenny Hirsch wasn’t coming home started to set in Monday and Tuesday for his family, his father, Jim Hirsch, said.

This isn’t the first time Jim Hirsch has faced a question like this.

“I did this with my little brother when I was 25 and he was 23,” he said. “The family donated his organs.”

He said his family is thankful others will have an opportunity for life despite their own loss.

“If there’s any good that can come out of this terrible tragedy, it’s that Kenny could help somebody else,” he said. “That was just his personality.”

No matter what time of day the call came, Kenny Hirsch was always ready to rush out to help someone who needed it. He was in his element, especially when it came to anything with an engine.

“If any of these guys around here needed a pull out of the mud puddle, a jump, a tire fixed, an engine overhauled and rebuilt in the middle of the night,” Jim Hirsch said, “they could call Kenny, and Kenny would come.”

If you needed something looked at or fixed, you called Hirsch, Hughes said.

“He was so smart,” she said. “He was a brilliant mechanic.”

Her family got to know Brandon Carter’s soon after they moved to Olney as children. Carter’s mother baby-sat the Hirsch family’s children, including Kenny.

Carter’s family included in his obituary a dream Brandon had as a little boy.

“When Brandon was little he always wanted to be a hero; and now, he is just that — a HERO to many,” his page on the Lunn Funeral Home’s Web site reads.

His family wanted to honor the generous young man by donating his organs so others could enjoy the quality of life he knew, it says.

He graduated from Olney High School in 2007, and he owned and operated BC Well Services.

Carter played varsity football during his junior and senior years, and he also ran on the varsity track team during his sophomore through senior years. He was a member of the student council. He earned enough votes to be named “Best Looking” and “Class Favorite.”

Hirsch, a 2006 graduate of Olney High School, this year received a certificate in Automotive Technology-Paint and Collision Repair from Tarrant County Community College.

Hirsch loved building and racing cars, and his dad said he had an “extreme passion” for life and having fun.

The two had the same group of friends, and they added new faces into the crowd as they branched out and met new people.

Carter and Hirsch loved spending time with friends and taking part in activities that involved the outdoors. Both participated in athletics in school, and their lives made a deep impact on the people who knew them.

Hirsch’s sense of humor is what sticks with his sister now. You never knew what he was going to say next, Hughes said.

“Everything he said just made you burst out laughing,” she said. People have been “quoting Kenny” during the past few days, which has been a comfort.

“The best thing we can do is just keep them alive through memories and talking about them,” Hughes said.

Both men had countless friends, and their services will be held together at 2 p.m. Saturday to give as many people as possible a chance to be there. The service will be held in the high school auditorium in Olney. Visitation will take place today at Lunn Funeral Home in Olney.