PAYSON — Friends and family of Utah State University student Curt A. Madsen, 23, remembered him Saturday for his sense of humor and his love of music, the outdoors, gun collecting and trucks.
He was one of eight USU students and an instructor killed Monday when the 15-passenger van they were in rolled on I-84, north of Tremonton.
Graduating with high honors from Payson High School, Madsen was in the a cappella choir and excelled in FFA. He was the fourth of five children born to Tamra and Kenneth Madsen. Although he loved target shooting, he didn't have the heart to hunt, said local Bishop Richard Nielson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He had a tough exterior but was kind-hearted, Nielson said.
Mourners who attended the funeral laughed and wept with the family as they recalled Madsen's sense of humor and dedication to agriculture. He raised three pigs, which he named Lumpy, Henrietta and Pig, recalled his brother, Mark Madsen, and once won first place in Utah and third place in the nation in meat-judging competitions.
He was an expert at picking out cuts of meat and worked as a meat cutter while he was attending school.
Once asked about dressing a turkey, Curt Madsen responded, "I don't do birds," Mark Madsen said.
Mark Madsen produced tokens of remembrance — a bullet, a pocket knife, a bottle of olive oil used in his religion to bless the sick and a white handkerchief, symbolic of the LDS temples. Finally, he produced a set of Texas longhorns, which Curt Madsen brought home from serving two years in Texas as an LDS missionary.
"These are a symbol of strength," he said, "both physical and spiritual strength."
"We know where he's at," another brother, Keith Madsen, said. "The great test of life . . . it's ended. He did a good job. He's moved on."
The continuation of life after death was a common theme throughout the religious service.
"Curt's not gone forever. He's just on another mission," Mark Madsen said.
Curt Madsen majored in both agriculture and history, brother Wayne Madsen said. He attended Snow College in Ephraim with college credits earned in high school before enrolling at USU full-time this fall. He recalled recent family vacations in Wyoming and Colorado. Also a history buff and high school history teacher, Wayne Madsen recalled how the two of them enjoyed historical sites on those vacations.
"He was a great missionary, a friend, a kind-hearted individual and my little brother," he said.
"We don't know why these things happen," family friend and religious leader Roger Jensen said.
He described the Madsens as a close-knit family who are faithful in their religion. Yet, experiences in life prepare people for future experiences, he said.
"He's been called home to serve another mission," he said.
Elder Donald J. Butler of the LDS Church's 5th Quorum of Seventy read a letter of condolence from the faith's First Presidency.
Echoing Jensen's question as to why young people die, he said, "We'll know someday. (Until then), we're allowed to weep and wonder."
E-mail: rodger@desnews.com