Two years ago today – the crash
Two years ago today, 10 USU students and their instructor went on a field trip to Box Elder County to look at farming equipment. As they were returning to Logan, a tire blew out on their vehicle. The 15-passenger van rolled four times, killing the instructor and eight students.
“I remember getting on the freeway, and I was just talking to some of the guys when I heard the tire blow out. I looked forward and we were going off the road. That is the last I remember,” said Robbie Peterson, one of two survivors.
Two years later, Peterson said the accident is still something he thinks about every day. It is, however, getting easier to deal with the reality of the deadly rollover, he said.
“It is hard to believe two years have gone by. I think life is just kind of starting to get where I can move on. I mean, I will always remember what happened. I will always remember those lost, but life is getting a little easier,” he said.
The eight students killed in the accident were Steven Bair, Dusty Fuhriman, Justin Gunnell, Justin Huggins, Jonathan Jorgensen, Curtis Madsen, Ryan McEntire and Bradley Wilcox. Instructor Evan Parker was also killed.
Jared Nelson and Peterson survived.
USU President Stan Albrecht said, “On this second anniversary marking the loss of nine wonderful students and their instructor, we continue to feel the pain and emptiness of that day, Sept. 26, 2005. These fine students and their instructor remain in our hearts and our thoughts. We pay our deepest respects to them. We express our ongoing sympathy and support to their loved ones. We also wish to convey our gratitude for the progress of the two student survivors, Robbie Peterson and Jared Nelson.”
To mark the anniversary, the Agriculture Technology Club sponsored a tractor procession Monday. A tractor donned with wreaths, representing each casualty, led the parade of nearly 20 tractors.
The event also kicked off Ag Week. Because the rollover occurred on the first Monday of Ag Week in 2005, Tiffany Evans, director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, said the parade will be the Monday of every Ag Week to memorialize the lost students and instructor.
“The parade will be a long-lasting tradition so each and every Ag Week, from here on out, will begin with a tribute to the victims in the accident. This is the most appropriate way to begin Ag Week,” she said. “Ag Week, 25 to 30 years from now, is going to begin with a tractor parade that will represent this event in the university’s history.”
USU is also in the process of designing a memorial for the victims, said Noelle Cockett, dean of the College of Agriculture. The memorial of bronze panels will reflect the talents of the nine people killed and will hang in the Taggart Student Center. Once the new Agriculture building is completed, the memorial will be displayed there.
Cockett said people should not focus totally on the gloom of the anniversary. She said she believes this memorial will help move the attention to the achievements of the instructor and students.
“The news of the accident came blow after blow after blow, and what I experienced was incredible sadness,” Cockett said. “This (memorial) will help represent each victim and also represent what they did.”
Bruce Miller, department head of agricultural systems technology and education, said the Agricultural Machinery Technology Program lost half its enrollment in the 2005 accident. While he and the department will always remember the “tremendous sadness and loss,” the program continues to move forward, he said.
“I’m sure we will reflect back to the van accident that was a couple of years ago, but at the same time, we are building the program,” Miller said.
Peterson agreed and said the nine who died were very important to the program. He said he hopes those who were killed are remembered for their work but also, more importantly, for who they were.
“I would want them remembered probably just for who they were,” he said. “I wouldn’t want them remembered any other way. What they did for a living and what they stood for seems pretty rare in today’s society.”
Ann Marie Huggins, the mother of student Justin Huggins who died in the accident, said she too hopes those who died are always remembered for who they were.
“I am also so grateful to USU for keeping the memory alive of all these fine young men. It is my worst fear that people will forget our Justin and all he stood for,” she said. “Justin touched a lot of people while he was alive and even in his death.”
Huggins said the day of the accident is always with her. The memories are still hard to deal with, but having left her son’s room exactly as it was the day of his death, she feels some solace.
“We take one day at a time,” she said. “You can smell it in the air this time of year, my mind starts to drift back to the day of the accident. I was watching TV and breaking news came on; there was a van accident that killed six. It felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. I just knew I knew someone in it. I watched the life flights fly over our house, not knowing our oldest son Justin who had been home 89 days from his mission was on one. Then I got the phone call.”
Justin lived five more hours before passing away, Huggins said. She said she is most grateful for the last moments she spent with her son.
Huggins said, “We got to hold and kiss him, tell him we love him and to go give them heaven.”
-arie.k@aggiemail.usu.edu