When the news of Paul Walker's tragic passing came to light in 2013, nobody was more devastated than his family.

Walker was only 40 years old when he died following a fiery car crash in Santa Clara, California.

A documentary titled I Am Paul Walker included footage from the actor's early life and touching interviews from his friends and family, who give insight on who the actor truly was.

Of course, his mother Cheryl took Walker's death exceptionally hard. She spoke to PEOPLE about the last conversation she ever had with her son.

Cheryl said Walker was sitting in her kitchen and had planned on picking out a Christmas tree and decorate it with his daughter Meadow later that evening.

However, Cheryl said Walker received a text message, and rushed out of her house to attend an event he had forgotten about.

"We were having this good conversation, and he'd forgotten about an event he had," Cheryl explained. "He got a text and said, 'Oh my gosh, I'm supposed to be somewhere!'"

That event was a charity car show for his organization Reach Out Worldwide, and after it had ended, Walker took a drive in a Porsche Carrera GT driven by his friend Roger Rodas. It would be a deadly decision, as the vehicle crashed into a telephone pole and exploded, killing both men.

Following his passing, Meadow filed a lawsuit against the luxury car company for failing to install the necessary safety features in the Porsche, which was later resolved in 2017.

"I think so many people think, 'Oh, he was just a movie star who was killed in a car accident,'" Cheryl said. "But there was so much more to him. That was just a piece of who he was. He was an amazing man."

To those in his inner-circle, Walker is remembered for two things: his love of surfing and his daughter.

"He loved being a dad. He was so proud of her," his brother Cody told PEOPLE.

While Meadow grew up in Hawaii with her mother, she decided to move in with Walker just a year prior to his death, and according to Cheryl, Walker relished in being involved with his daughter's day-to-day activities, including her school dances.

"He helped Meadow's date pin on his boutonnií¨re and drove them to the dance and picked them up. It was so sweet," she said.

Although Walker's time with Meadow was cut short by his fateful car accident, the now-19-year-old will always remember the love her father had for her.

"Paul thought the world of her," Walker's father Paul Walker III said. "No father loved a child more than he did Meadow."

[H/T: Daily Mirror, PEOPLE]