TREMONTON — Robert “Robbie” Petersen and Rusten Thornley had never met before, yet they shook hands like old friends.
The handshake and unique meeting between the 36-year-old Petersen, sporting a black Western Seeds Utah hat, and the 16-year-old Eagle Scout, dressed in his tan uniform with green merit badge sash, took place a few feet from a new 8-foot granite monument, located a few miles north of Tremonton and just off the eastbound side of Interstate 84.
What brought the unlikely pair together was 15 years in the making, beginning with a tragic accident and culminating with a fitting tribute.
“This site will always have significance for me,” Petersen said. “Every time I come past here I’m reminded of that day.”
The accident
On the sunny fall afternoon of Sept. 26, 2005, a 1994 Dodge passenger van with 10 Utah State University agriculture students was returning from a field trip to see farm equipment in Box Elder County. Evan Parker, a USU Ag instructor, was the driver. The students were underclassmen, mostly freshmen, including Petersen, who recalled conversations on various topics as they rode along.
“Guys were talking about the combine we had just looked at,” he said. “As part of the field trip there was a worksheet to fill out, so guys were asking each other questions. Being a bunch of farmers and ranchers, there was talk about Ag stuff. We also talked about the college of Ag activities on campus to celebrate Ag week.”
Just before 4 p.m., Parker lost control of the van when the left rear tire blew out, causing the van to roll and ejecting all 11 occupants. The Utah Highway Patrol estimated the van traveled from the interstate over about 300 yards of sagebrush before coming to rest on the edge of a deep ravine.
Nine of the 11 died as a result of the accident, including Steven Bair, 24, of Moses Lake, Washington; Dusty Fuhriman, 22, of Tremonton; Justin Gunnell, 24, of Providence; Justin Huggins, 21, of Bear River; Jonathan Jorgensen, 22, of Hyrum; Curtis Madsen, 23, of Payson; Ryan McEntire, 22, of West Point; Bradley Wilcox, 26, of Salt Lake City; and Parker, 45, of Hooper.
Two students survived. Jared Nelson suffered a traumatic brain injury and broke some bones. His wife, Amy, is his full-time caretaker and they live near his family’s farm in Woodburn, Oregon.
Petersen suffered two broken femurs, a broken nose, a deep gash in his chin, a broken foot and two broken ribs. He continues to have knee problems 15 years later. He and his wife have two children and live in the Tremonton area where he is the manager of Western Seeds Utah.
The survivors
The Nelsons were married barely a month before Jared’s life was changed by the accident. They built a home customized to his needs and most of his day is spent in a wheelchair with a feeding tube.
“Honestly, it’s kind of been the same for him every day for the last 15 years,” Amy Nelson said. “He’s fed throughout the day and we interact with him. We have a few animals around — dogs, cats, some chickens. We stay busy.”
Amy works for a year-round swim club as a coach and takes Jared, who likes interacting with the swimmers and parents. People can talk to Jared, and he’s able to smile appropriately or laugh, but he isn’t capable of having a conversation, she said.
Amy’s grateful for the relationships she’s developed with other families who experienced the accident because “not many people have experienced something like that,” she said.
The Nelsons are grateful for people who notice Jared and open doors or perform small acts of kindness. She’s become accustomed to taking care of her husband.
“Honestly, the caregiving part has been fine,” she said. “Not having a family and those expectations you have for life, that’s been the hardest part.”
She finds strength and hope for the future through her Latter-day Saint faith.
“Because of the gospel, I’m able to stick through it and do the hard things every day, all day. ... If I didn’t have that, I would not be the same person,” Amy said. “Just knowing that the Savior (Jesus Christ) knows how I feel when it’s a hard day ... I can endure.”
Faith has played a big part in Petersen’s ability to cope with the aftermath of the crash and being the one survivor with a normal life.
“My faith has carried me many times,” he said.
After bouncing around with his work over the last few years, the Petersens made their way back to Tremonton over a year ago. He likes his job and the chance to be “home” again, surrounded by family and friends.
While Petersen is grateful for his life, family and career, he wants to be sensitive to all those who lost loved ones and are reminded of that fact by his presence.
“It’s part of what the Lord had planned,” he said. “I feel like there’s a reason but I don’t need to know it right now.”
Reflections
USU President Noelle E. Cockett was the interim provost at the time of the accident but had previously served for several years as dean of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. She knew Parker and even recalls having “cross words” with him a few times, although differences were later resolved and he gave her a watermelon from his farm.
She remembers Sept. 26, 2005, started out as a beautiful fall day. She was working in USU’s Old Main building when the accident report came in. In a short time Old Main became emergency command headquarters and everyone stayed together late into the night, gathering reports, responding to media requests and trying to support the classmates and the families of the victims.
At one point she walked into the office of former Utah State President Stan L. Albrecht. He was in jeans and leaning back in his chair with cowboy boots on the desk, talking to CNN. She also fielded questions from a Salt Lake television station on campus. It was an unforgettable day.
“There’s certain moments when you know exactly where you were when you heard something, and that’s one for me,” Cockett said. “This hit the college (of Agriculture) hard. I think everybody realized in some sense how fragile life can be. It makes me kind of weepy even now. These were strong, good young men. ... We still hear from some of the families and that means a lot to me. I will always remember.”
Utah State produced a short video tribute with photos and information about the victims in 2008.
Bruce Miller continues to feel the loss as well. At the time of the accident, Miller was the department head of Agriculture Systems Technology and Parker’s direct supervisor. They were friends and worked together for several years. Most of the victims were enrolled in classes within the department and Miller knew them. He is frequently reminded of the accident and sometimes goes out of his way to visit a memorial sculpture on campus dedicated to the nine victims.
“I feel a personal connection to each as I take a moment to reflect,” Miller said. “Life is fleeting. The accident reinforces the need to appreciate the people we meet and the time we have to interact with them. One should never take for granted the opportunities presented.”
The first five years after the accident were “brutal” for Kathy Fuhriman, Dusty’s mother, because media kept calling, bringing things back up and interrupting her grieving process. Life has been better in recent years, as Fuhriman and her daughter, DixyAnn Smith, often talk about their son and brother.
“Some of the personal things that I’ve experienced since then have let me know that he is still out there watching over us,” Fuhriman said. “He has reached out with some comfort for me.”
Smith has found healing and understanding through her Latter-day Saint faith.
Sometimes it’s difficult for Clark and Annmarie Huggins, Justin’s parents, to see his friends now with homes, children and lives they have built, but they are grateful his memory has lived on through a baseball scholarship in his name and other community efforts. They are also strengthened by the memory of Justin’s faith. He completed an honorable mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shortly before the accident.
“His faith was so strong and it helps us to this day,” Clark Huggins said. “We’re glad to talk about the accident and keep the memory alive. The biggest fear we have is that people will forget. So things like this that keep that memory alive, we appreciate and we cherish that.”
The monument
Rusten Thornley was only a year or so old when the USU van crash happened, but he’s known about it most of his life. His mother, Katie Thornley, was a relative and close friend of Justin Huggins.
On several occasions in recent years the Thornley family has passed the crash site and thought how nice it would be to see a monument of some kind built there. At one point, Russell Thornley suggested it would make for an “awesome” Eagle Scout project.
His son was listening. When the time came to choose a project in 2019, Rusten decided to go for it.
Originally, the Thornley family discussed spending $500 for a nice sign, but Scoutmaster Reed Summers suggested the community might rally around a fundraising campaign. He was right.
On the 14th anniversary of the crash — Sept. 26, 2019 — Rusten launched a social media fundraising campaign in which more than 200 donors raised $10,000. As word of the project spread, donations poured in. Sweet old ladies even approached Rusten with white envelopes at church. The young man was almost overwhelmed by the staggering response and didn’t want to let anybody down.
“I saw God’s hand in the project.” — Rusten Thornley
“The more money that came, the more praise and letters he got, the more stressed he was,” Katie Thornley said. “It was like ‘How can I make all these people happy?’”
The biggest donor was farmer Eric Webb, of Raft River, Idaho, who contributed $5,000. He and his brother Josh both attended USU’s Ag program. He is a friend of Petersen and has fond memories of the family atmosphere that exists in the Ag program. Webb drives by the crash site nearly every day and wanted to help build something to honor their memories for years to come.
“A lot of connections made me want to help this whole situation. ... They (the victims) were my fellow students, people just like me, doing the same thing, and honestly it was torn away from them,” Webb said. “Hopefully this can bring some sort of beam of light into the sadness of what has happened.”
Jay Stocking, a businessman in the area, helped design the monument, and another couple, Lynn and Michelle Martineau, helped Rusten connect with Brown Monument, a monument business in Logan.
“A lot of good people stepped into help,” the 16-year-old said. “I saw God’s hand in the project.”
The granite monument was completed and installed at the crash site on July 7, bringing a satisfying end to the yearlong project. Looking back, the Thornleys still marvel at how everything unfolded.
“I was a proud dad,” Russell Thornley said. “Never have I seen something that reached so many lives.”
Coming together
Standing together by the tall monument last week — 15 years to the month of the accident — Petersen and Rusten Thornley discussed some of the details of the project.
With the property owner’s permission, the Thornleys selected the most prominent spot along the edge of the ravine and cleared away the sage brush in case of a fire. The hallowed ground is also protected by a barbed wire fence.
Those who stop for a closer look at the granite monument will see the image of a tractor in a field above the engraved large bolded words, “Always Remember,” complete with an Aggie-style “A.” Just below that is listed the date of the crash — “September 26, 2005” — and the words, “We thank God for what you planted,” along with the names of the victims and survivors.
Petersen was impressed, as are many connected to the accident.
“He did an awesome job, a home run,” Petersen said before giving Rusten and his father each a hat from Western Seeds Utah. “This pays tribute to the people who died and it’s going to ensure that they are not forgotten.”
