Erica Ortega, a Harvey resident, said when talking with her cousin on Thursday, their conversation drifted off, and they noticed how unusually quiet Ortega’s house felt. She said they knew who usually filled that silence. Ortega said her younger brother, Jair Ortega, had a knack for cracking a jok e at exactly the right moment and making everyone laugh. He also filled the house with music, she said, as a talented musician who recently signed with a recording label. He saw music as an avenue to connect and share joy with others, she said. More than 100 people gathered Thursday at the Hope Center in Blue Island to grieve and remember Jair Ortega, a 19-year-old who died in a vehicle crash with a freight train Nov. 26. The crash occurred at about 6 p.m. the day before Thanksgiving near Broadway Street in Blue Island, police said. Ortega was pronounced dead on the scene, and the driver, one of his close friends, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and is still recovering, according to Erica Ortega. Jair Ortega was a graduate of Bremen High School, but spent most of his high school years attending Back of the Yards High School. He was involved in the church and music community in Blue Island and the greater Chicago area. He is survived by his father, Raymundo Ortega, his mother, Dulce Ramirez; sisters, Erica, 21, Victoria, 18, Valeria, 16, Naret, 4, and Karina Ortega; a niece, Miranda Daylin; and grandparents Raymundo Ortega, Felix Hernandez, Abel Ramirez and Carmen Carrillo. Friends, family and coworkers listened to Jair’s music, repeated prayers, exchanged long hugs and heard his fellow musicians perform songs in his memory. More than two dozen friends said Jair was a light who always had his guitar on hand, even in class, the cafeteria or on phone calls. “He was the light in every room,” said Abilene Valenzuela, a family friend said. “He made you laugh and he was always there for you, and we could go months without talking, but if I texted him that I needed something, he would show up at our doorstep.” Valenzuela said she will never forget when he performed at her baby shower last year, when he arrived late and needed food, but started his performance with a happy birthday song. She said he was the first person that day to remember it was her birthday. “I didn’t even have to ask him for that,” she said. “He was just that kind of guy, like he just knew.” Several friends said Ortega was the first person to wish them a happy birthday every year and would often serenade them, no matter where they were. More than 100 people gather Thursday at The Hope Center in Blue Island for the visitation of Jair Ortega, who was killed Nov. 26 in a crash. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown) Josselyn Rojas, one of his childhood friends and classmates, said he not only played “Las Mananitas,” a traditional Mexican birthday song, for her birthday, but he also played her favorite songs when she was feeling down and even serenaded his classmates during lunch. She said she would carry his lunch tray to the trash with him in high school so he could play his guitar on the way, which he would continue into the classroom with some scolding from his teachers. But when teachers got onto him for playing his guitar in class, she said, he had a way of rallying his classmates to join in and cheer him on. “He would be like, ‘another song, another song,’ and everybody would just scream and yell ‘another song, another song’ to cheer him on,” Rojas said. “He was very joyful, very grateful and very funny.” Valenzuela said Ortega had committed to becoming a musician, signing a record deal with the label Money Don’t Sleep and playing shows across the Chicago area. His sister Erica said Ortega recently formed a band in the Blue Island area, and she wasn’t sure if it would continue. Ricardo Castillo, one of Ortega’s fellow musicians, said Ortega was the reason that he and a lot of other musicians joined the record label. “He basically made the brand go up, if anything, he was their artist, he still is, and he’s the start of everything,” Castillo said. Even much older artists looked up to him, Castillo said. Eduardo Bravo, another one of Ortega’s fellow musicians, said Ortega had a way of getting people to put their ego aside and pushing them to be better, all the while with a contagious smile. He said Ortega was also the first person to arrive to practice and gigs every time, and he would often get people to stay after performances and jam out together. “Music ran through him, and he made it run through everybody else,” Bravo said. Bravo and Castillo said the day after the crash, their network of musicians dropped everything and came together to play music. “You never know when it’s your last call, you gotta put everything aside and just connect,” Bravo said. Ortega’s recording label plans to release an album of the last songs he recorded, along with songs they’re writing in dedication to him, on his birthday, Dec. 11, according to Bravo and Castillo. Even outside of music, people described Ortega as a happy, good soul. Several of his coworkers at AutoZone said they saw him like a brother and would have tacos with his family. Erica Ortega said since the day of the accident, there have been a lot of people in her family’s house. She said family and friends have stopped by and spent hours with them, and her cousins stayed over every night. She said it’s been helpful to fill the house and said she is still struggling to process that he’s gone. “Even after seeing him right now, I still like, I feel like I’m going to go home, and I’m still going to think the same thing, that he’s still playing a gig somewhere else,” she said. Family and friends held a burial ceremony Friday at St. Augustine Parish, in Midlothian. A GoFundMe was also created in support of the family. Ortega’s music can be found under his name, Certez, on most streaming platforms. [email protected] ...read more read less