Chris Hixon last visited Easton in May 2016.

He was in town to catch up with his dad Russ and spend time with his 92-year-old grandmother Florence, Hixon's uncle Dave recalled Thursday evening.

Chris Hixon, 49, was the athletic director at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

"We were up last night late," Dave Hixon said from his home on Centre Street on Easton's South Side, just one door away from his brother -- and Chris' dad -- Russ. Sadness and fatigue were clear in his voice. "At 1:30 in morning, we found out he passed."

Family members had been hoping Chris was in surgery. Dave Hixon said.

Chris' "wife called Russ, she said she was calling Chris' cellphone with no answer," Dave Hixon said. "That went on way too long."

"He was probably the best man that I..." - Debra Hixon lost her husband, Chris, in the FL school shooting. Her voice trails off, and and she's unable to finish her sentence while remembering him with Jim Sciutto https://t.co/B5OdKvBLQG pic.twitter.com/gu4MHX6e33 — OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) February 16, 2018

They were Googling and found a newspaper reporting Chris' death, but it was "fake news" and just added to the pain, Dave Hixon said.

"We hoped for the best," he said. "Then it just all went south."

Russ Hixon on Thursday night was on his way to Florida to join Chris' wife Debra to try to get a better understanding of what happened.

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student, is charged with killing 17 people, including Chris Hixon, on Wednesday afternoon in a mass shooting at the school.

Chris lived on South Ninth Street in Easton until his mid-teens, his uncle said. He went to elementary and middle school in the city before moving with his mother to Monroe County and playing sports at Pleasant Valley High School, Dave Hixon said.

Chris joined the Navy after high school, Dave Hixon said. Chris then went into the Naval Reserve and was sent to Iraq in 2007, a published report says.

Chris went to college after his first stint in the service and got into coaching and athletic administration in Florida, his uncle said.

Last year he was named Broward County Athletic Association's Athletic Director of the Year, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

He coached wrestling in addition to his athletic director duties, the newspaper added.

It's not clear at the moment what Chris Hixon's final moments were like. His family would like to know.

If it came down to it, Dave Hixon knows Chris would have stepped up.

"Absolutely," he said. "He was the athletic director down there. He's going to protect his kids. ... He was always that typical kind of person that would do what was right."

Chris would have turned 50 on Feb. 25. His Aunt Sarah will advance to 93 three days earlier.

Each year for Chris' birthday, Sarah would write him a letter.

This year's letter is written, Dave Hixon said, but won't be read by Chris.

Russ "was pretty upset last night" after getting the bad news, Dave Hixon said. "... I'm pretty sure he's in denial at this point."

It's still hard to process, especially since the family has so few details, Dave Hixon said.

"You never expect that can happen to you," he said. "It was a very long wait for us yesterday."

But Chris Hixon will have a legacy, his uncle said.

"He's going to be well respected down in Florida as a very good athletic director," Dave Hixon said.

And he represented his hometown and Pleasant Valley well in a life cut far too short, his uncle added.

Debra Hixon, interviewed Thursday night on CNN, called Chris "an awesome husband and father ... friend and countryman. And he was probably the best man that I ..."

Her voice trailed off, but her intention was clear.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.