This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
When John Jones died after becoming trapped inside Utah County's Nutty Putty Cave, he left behind his 14-month-old daughter, Lizzie, and wife, Emily, who was pregnant with their second child.
Jones, 26, was a medical student at the University of Virginia, and his family had been living on student loans.
"[Emily] was a young mother with really no way to support herself and take care of her family," said her brother, Dan Petersen, a student at Brigham Young University — the same school where Emily and John met a few years ago.
He decided to help in a way that went beyond typical brotherly support. Petersen, 22, and three friends planned an approximately 3,000-mile bike ride across the United States to raise money for Emily and her children.
But Petersen wasn't the only person thinking of Emily. The story of the 28-hour rescue effort to free John from the narrow, twisted tunnel where he got stuck while exploring made national news on Thanksgiving weekend last year. Dozens of people from all across the country stepped up to donate money to the family he left behind. Emily, who had moved in with her parents in Salem, Va., was well cared for.
So instead, "She asked us to do this trip for other widows and widowers," Petersen said.
Searching online, they found The Liz Logelin Foundation.
The Minneapolis-based organization was founded in January 2009 after then-30-year-old Logelin died of a pulmonary embolism a day after her daughter was born. Her husband, Matt, had been keeping a blog chronicling her pregnancy, and after her death, the blog became an outlet for his grief.
Sympathetic readers responded by sending him gifts and donations. When Logelin started to feel like he couldn't accept it all, he started the foundation.
It gives grants to newly single parents within the first year of the loss of a spouse. Many people it serves are in their 20s and 30s and don't necessarily have life insurance or wills.
"When you're younger, you feel invincible. I did. I completely did. I never thought I'd have to worry about this stuff," Matt Logelin said.
Foundation leaders choose recipients based on an application process, and so far, they have been able to give money to everyone who has applied, a total of $45,000, said Executive Director Rachel Engebretson.
Several months ago, Engebretson received an e-mail from Emily's brother. Dan Petersen told her his brother-in-law's story and of their intention to ride to California. He and his friends would plan the ride, execute it and send the money to the foundation.
"I was just completely blown away by that — these young college students saying, 'We want to take a semester off school and do this,' " Engebretson said.
Petersen said he had always wanted to bike across the country.
"It just seemed like it would be one of those great adventures, kind of like the ultimate camping trip," he said. Such a trip seemed selfish without a larger purpose, but his desire to help his sister after her husband's death reignited the idea. The trip could be a way to make something good come out of his brother-in-law's death.
Petersen and roommate Eric Maughan, 23, cousin Jonathan Miller, 22, and friend Oliver Thompson, 19, planned a route through the Adventure Cycling Association.
They came up with the idea shortly after Jones' death and spent the summer working to save money — Petersen sold pest-control supplies in Dallas — and researching long cycling trips. A Lindon bike shop, Fezzari Performance Bicycles, helped out with deep discounts on bikes and equipment.
On Oct. 4, the group launched the trip in Virginia Beach, Va., and traveled 70 to 90 miles a day, across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and more. They plan to end up in San Diego on Dec. 10.
The cyclists often stay with fellow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though in more remote areas, they've set up a tent and camped for the night. The ride has been mostly smooth, aside from the occasional broken spoke, except for the time Thompson crashed and bent his front wheel in Louisiana, forcing him to hitchhike to a bike shop about 200 miles away to have it repaired — and then back to join the other riders.
The group has raised more than $7,000 so far, mainly from people who have gone online and donated after seeing their bike signs on their website, nuttyputtycyclers.com, meeting the cyclers, or encountering them in the media. They're aiming for $50,000, but if they end up with $10,000, they'll be happy, Petersen said. Either way, they'll be drawing attention to people left behind when a spouse dies, something that isn't often publicized.
"There are a lot of people who this has happened to them," Petersen said. "You don't hear about it, no one has any idea, and they struggle quite a bit."
On the web
Read the entire story of the harrowing effort to rescue John Jones, published in August, online at sltrib.com. Check out the Nutty Putty cyclers' website, nuttyputtycyclers.com, where you can make donations.