Jeffrey and Jonathan Nackos
Jeff Nackos had been on my Timberline staff one year and did a really good job. I had asked him again a second year and he wanted to do it since we had recruited his younger brother John to go to Tline that year as a candidate. We started our staff development meetings in Jan and as time went on Jeff became more and more involved in some other things and wasn’t sure he should continue with our staff. He decided to stay however for his brothers sake so that he would be there with his brother, We had actually had John signed up the year before but then he couldn’t go at the last moment. Well this year as we got closer to the course we filled up rather late and I knew I needed all of the youth staff that I had which for several months had really been in question. I had told Jeff if we didn’t fill up that he could be on the list to drop out first if he still needed. Well just a month or so before the course date John had been on an overnight camp up Hobble Creek. He and a friend decided that they needed something from town so they got in the car and took off a little too fast for that canyon. As they came around one corner the driver lost control and rolled the car. John had his seat belt on and the window open but somehow his head was caught between the road and the rolling vehicle. He was killed instantly if I remember correctly. I went to his funeral with several of the staff members and remember a story one of the speakers gave about John. When John was just 5 years old he had been sick and in the hospital. The speaker was his Bishop at the time and was called to the hospital to give him a blessing. He recalls that he was blessed to be able to live and he did pull through from a point where he was at deaths door. The Bishop then recalled that as he left the hospital that he had a very distinct impression that John was only going to be here for a short time and that he would be taken at a later date. John was a very loving and friendly kid and had lots of close friends as he grew older. Then at age 14 he was taken and the Bishop was now no longer his Bishop but told his parents about his experience at the hospital which he had never shared before with anyone. He also felt though very concerned about the situation and was granted a dream where he saw John walking down a green pasture between two older men dressed in white. He recalls seeing John turn toward him with a huge smile and then letting him know that he was doing just great and for his parents not to worry about him. Jeff was hit very hard with this accident however and came to me and told me that he wanted to be off of the staff. I then told him we were completely full and I really needed him and promised that if he would come he would do a lot better. Well he did come and during the week there were several times when it was very obvious that he was struggling with John’s death still very hard. Each time it happened however the rest of the youth staff would get around him and help him. Toward the end of the week he told us how he was so glad he had come because they had helped him through a very difficult time and he was very thankful for their friendship.
