MONROE — It’s been a somber couple of days in this small Iowa town as members of the community grieve for the slain Harold Uriah Sellers.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a day where it’s been this quiet in school,” Todd Jones, a science teacher and assistant football coach at Prairie City-Monroe High School, said Monday. “They are really banding together to give support to the family.”

Sellers, 19, was found stabbed once in the chest on the front lawn of Adelante Fraternity, 318 Welch Ave. early Sunday morning. He was pronounced dead at Mary Greeley Medical Center at 4:06 a.m. His funeral will be Friday in Monroe, although family members are unsure about the time because they are hoping to hold the funeral at the school gymnasium.

Sellers’ friends called him Uri, a variation of his middle name.

Uri’s father, Bill, was sleeping early Sunday when he was awakened by a phone call from the hospital. The family drove to Ames early Sunday morning but did not arrive at the hospital in time to see Uri alive.

Bill and Uri’s younger brother, Caleb, 16, have not yet visited the fraternity’s lawn.

“We’re not ready for that yet, although we are planning to be up there soon,” Bill said.

Supporters packed Bill’s girlfriend’s house Monday afternoon. In the wake of the tragedy, Bill took the part of the strong, calm person — the one others leaned on.

“I’m doing better than yesterday,” he said. Bill has raised Uri and Caleb alone. Their mother left when they were young.

Bill said he has been kept well-informed by the Ames Police Department and Story County officials. In fact, he received a call from Mary Richards, Story County attorney, early Monday to update him.

He said he would like to see the person who stabbed Uri apprehended as soon as possible. “I’d just like to see him punished.”

Uri lived in Altoona and attended DMACC. He was studying biotechnology and was planning to attend Iowa State.

Caleb, a sophomore at PCM High School, said he looked up to his brother. They were close.

“He’s the best brother a kid could ever have. He was always there for me when I needed him,” he said.

Sadly, the family is no stranger to tragedy.

When Uri was 12, he and Caleb were racing their bicycles to their grandmother’s house when Uri fell and slipped into a coma. “He went one way and I went the other. A bag of clothes got caught in the wheel, and he flipped over.”

But Uri quickly recovered. He eventually played both offense and defense on the PCM football team. He was a co-captain.

“His big thing was middle linebacker,” said Matt Jones, Uri’s friend from home.

“It didn’t matter what he played; he was good at everything,” Jones said. After a 6-3 record at PCM High his senior season, Uri went on to play linebacker at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls this fall. Ellsworth won all but one game, including a victory at the RC Cola Bowl in the Unidome in Cedar Falls.

“Everybody loved Uri,” said Jones, an Indian Hills Community College student.

In Ames for the Veishea celebration, Uri was visiting Jonathan Wilson, a freshman in sociology at ISU and one of Uri’s high school classmates. Wilson was with the family Monday.

The two met at Adelante and partied there, Wilson said. They were separated shortly before Uri was killed.

“He was in the yard for awhile. I was inside while he was outside with another one of his friends,” Wilson said. “I was walking out when I saw the flashing lights on the wall, and I went out to see what was going on. They told me Uri had been cut.”

Wilson said he and other friends saw Uri on the ground surrounded by police and paramedics. They watched as he was taken by ambulance to Mary Greeley Medical Center. They found someone to give them a ride to the hospital.

On Monday, many of Uri’s friends said they’re anxious for an arrest.

“They [the attackers] definitely should think about what they’ve done. They’ve hurt so many people,” said Jolene Aalbers, Caleb’s classmate.

Bill said his family is working to set up a scholarship fund with the Iowa State Athletic Department in Uri’s name. “It would be a good way for ISU to remember him,” he said.

Anyone wishing to give to the scholarship fund should send donations to: Uri Sellers Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 473, Monroe, Iowa 50170.