Jon Francis was a remarkable young man.  He loved deeply and was deeply loved. During his brief life he left many footprints.  Jon touched, loved and inspired others.  He lived an inspirational life of deep faith, love and service. He was a fun and joyful teacher and Christian leader who attracted others by his down-to earth, authentic faith – and he was never boring. 

Jon was director of youth ministry at Ascension Lutheran church in Ogden, Utah and a counselor for several years at Luther Heights Bible Camp (LHBC) near Ketchum, Idaho. From a young age, Jon lived his faith and  ministry.  He volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, was a leader at Teens Encounter Christ, worked at Gethsemane Day Camp in Minneapolis, a homeless shelter for children, served as a Peer Counselor at Stillwater High School, was captain of his high school and college track and cross country teams, taught Sunday School at Ascension Episcopal, became a mentor at Edison Middle School and led a bible study class at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  While at Ascension Lutheran, Jon also worked as a volunteer at their preschool.  He loved children and they loved him.

Jon ran long distances and climbed mountains, not only to challenge himself, but also to glorify God.  He respected and loved people and nature and stood in awe of God’s creation.

On Saturday morning, July 15, 2006, 24-year old Jon Francis, of Stillwater, Minnesota, climbed Grand Mogul in the rugged Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho.  He reached the summit but did not return. The official search, led by local law enforcement authorities, lasted for only 29 hours and was unsuccessful in finding him.

One of the searchers brought down a note that Jon had left in the summit registry. It read: “07/15/06. Jon Francis, *LHBC (Luther Heights Bible Camp) and Ogden Utah. Climbed avalanche field to east face and east ridge. Great times bouldering! All Glory to God for the climb and the beautiful Sawtooths.”

A 12 month, family-funded search, employing hundreds of volunteers and professional search and rescue resources achieved the recovery of Jon’s remains on July 24, 2007.  Jon was laid to rest at home in Minnesota, on October 9, 2007.

Founded in January 2007, The Jon Francis Foundation will provide an opportunity to honor Jon’s memory and to pass on his legacy of love, faith and service. Jon understood that; “it’s not what we gather, but what we scatter, that defines the kind of life you have lived.”

My name is David Francis.  My wife Linda and I are the parents of Jon Francis.  Our son, Jon, died in a climbing accident on Grand Mogul, in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.  It was July 15, 2006.  He was 24 years old. Jon’s flower was just beginning to bloom.  Jon was a Program Director at Luther Heights Bible Camp near Ketchum, Idaho and the youth minister at Ascension Lutheran church in Ogden, Utah. He was on his way to Lutheran seminary.  His life, love, joy, promise and future were cut short on that mountain.  Climbing mountains was a spiritual experience for him.  I know Jon felt close to God at the summit.   He left a note in the summit registry on Grand Mogul.

It reads: “07/15/06. Jon Francis, *LHBC (Luther Heights Bible Camp) and Ogden Utah. Climbed avalanche field to east face and east ridge. Great times bouldering! All Glory to God for the climb and the beautiful Sawtooths.”

After Jon was missing for 7 days, we came together in a prayer vigil on the shores of Redfish Lake.  As dark clouds rolled over Grand Mogul, I lifted my son up and placed him into the arms of God.  But we refused to leave his body to the mountain. During our long journey of grief, Linda and I have learned that losing a young child is the deepest sorrow known to humanity.  Not being able to find our son’s body and lay him to rest added unspeakable grief upon grief.  But, we did not give up.  We did not abandon hope.

Over the next 12 months, we organized and funded a massive search for Jon on the mountain and the surrounding forests.  We found Jon’s remains on July 24, 2007, a year after his death, and in the fall, we remembered and honored him with a Christian burial at his home in Stillwater, Minnesota.
We founded the Jon Francis Foundation to honor our son’s memory and to continue his legacy of making a positive difference in the world.   (Mission)

Jonathan David Francis

Jon was our 4th child and our only son.  We had his name picked out for 22 years.  Linda and I were high school sweethearts.  On a trip to Northern Michigan in 1960 we talked about a time when we would be married, have children together and raise a family.  We agreed that our first born son would be named Jonathan David Francis. Jonathan and David; two strong, Old Testament names.  Jonathan:  Hebrew for “God’s gift” and David:  “Beloved.” I remembered from my Baptist Sunday School that Jonathan loved David.    I Samuel, 18; “And it came to pass … that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”

Our son, Jonathan, was born in Northfield, Minnesota, in the early morning of March 5th, 1982.  Jon was small, as most of our children were, less than 6 pounds.  I was with Linda when he was born.  It will always be one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.  He needed to spend his first day in an incubator.  But Jonathan was healthy and handsome.  He had my dark hair and eyes that reflected well on his Irish heritage.  I know that God danced the day Jonathan was born.

Jon’s Faith Formation

I believe that faith is caught more often than taught. Jon caught a deep faith in a creator god early in his life. He appeared to know about the Trinity before he was potty trained.  When he was two years old he and his mother were walking past the church where he was baptized.  Linda said to him; ‘Jon that is where you were baptized.”  He responded; “With water and the holy spirit.”   That was one of the first indications that he “got it.”

The School Bus Stop

When it was time for our son, Jonathan, to start kindergarten, Linda and I attended parent’s orientation. At 43, we were clearly the oldest kindergarten parents in the room.  On his first day of kindergarten, I stayed home late to take my son to the school bus stop.  Linda took our picture as we walked hand in hand down the street.  I didn’t know she had snapped that photograph until she gave it to me as a loving and thoughtful gift for my birthday.

The Boundary Waters

It was on our first trip to the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota, when Jonathan was 8, that I first became aware of his love and respect for nature.  It was a love affair that Jon would have for a lifetime.  He practiced countless, small acts of environmental conservation. He taught us how to be better stewards of the earth.  And he would later write eloquently about his reverence for God’s Creation.   Jon wrote: “I let rip with joy when I quietly peruse the contents of the forest floor.  I break forth when I shout from a mountain peak after climbing to the top."

"My bursting forth takes the form of celebration, of grace, of awe and wonder, of humility and of thanksgiving.  I am celebrating the goodness of nature.  I am thankful for the goodness of the created world."

Tradition, Scripture and Reason.

We raised him in our Episcopal Church - tradition – scripture and reason.  Linda forced him to attend church every Sunday even when he protested.  He would later write about the positive influence of being raised in a Christian home.  When he challenged his mother, Linda would say; “Jon, I’m just doing my job.”  Jon was mature for his age in many ways.  He was after all our eldest son.  At 14 he talked his way into the Ascension Episcopal confirmation class filled with older kids.  Our Youth Minister and Assistant Priest, the Reverend LeeAnne Watkins, still remembers his personal testimony and the deeply passionate conversation she had with him. So she entered him into the confirmation process, early, confident that he “got it.”  Jon would later write about LeeAnne and the youth group and his experiences in TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) as important in his growing understanding of our sometimes confusing Christian Faith.

We became aware of Jon’s gift for ministry to children, when he was in high school. The Ascension Youth Group worked at a homeless shelter for children in Minneapolis.  Many of the children were abandoned and abused.   At the end of the 2 week service period, LeeAnne, came to us and said; “Your son Jon has a real gift for ministry to children.”   He was engaged and pastoral with the children and brought joy and fun into their lives. We were pleased and proud to see Jon live his ministry through high school, college and beyond graduation.

Chariots of Fire

The movie Chariots of Fire was released in 1981, one year before Jon was born.  It would become his favorite movie.  He would watch it, religiously, before every big track meet or cross country race.  It was meaningful and motivational.  Chariots of Fire retells the true story of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two Englishmen, driven by a need to run. Both exhibit unbelievable speed, train religiously and share a passion to compete in the 1924 Olympics.  Eric Liddell, a Protestant missionary from Scotland, ran for the glory of God.  Jon also ran to glorify God.  And like Eric Liddell, Jon preached and lived the gospel.  I know that Jon ran long distances and climbed mountains to challenge himself, but more importantly he did those things to glorify God.  Jon’s fire came from deep within.

Jon was humble.

When Jon was a sophomore in Stillwater high school he made the varsity cross country team.  His team had an awesome year (they went undefeated, won the state championship by over 100 points and they were voted the national champion high school boy’s cross country running team.)  Jostens created a “super bowl style” ring for the team.  Jon would not order a ring.  We encouraged him to buy one.  But Jon said; “Dad, I don’t need a ring.  I know what we did.” (Touching his heart) he said; I carry it in here.”

Augustana

Linda and I were much relieved when Jon found a Christian college he was excited about.  Augustana is a small Lutheran college located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Jon was attracted by its community of faith and the school’s running coach, Tracy Hellman.  I will never forget the freshman orientation we attended in the Augustana Chapel with him.  The Dean of Students was talking about the importance of diversity and the need to get to know others who were different than you.  I looked around the chapel filled with blonde, Lutherans and turned to Jon and said; “you are the diversity here – everyone needs to meet you- the non-Scandinavian, non-Lutheran student.”

Jon majored in Religion at Augustana and continued in his ministry. He was active in Habitat for Humanity, Campus Crusade for Christ, was a Bible Study Leader, and a mentor to Hispanic children for Lutheran Social Services and the Sioux Falls, South Dakota School District.  Jon knew that “faith without works is dead.”  He worked tirelessly to understand his faith and to live it through his works.

But Jon, like many of us, had questions and doubts about our simple, yet complicated faith.  In college he wrote about his faith with understanding and sometimes with personal anguish.  Jon wrote: “I know that God may be around but I don’t understand why things are a certain way.  Why couldn’t the earth, couldn’t life be different?  It is not the best of all possible worlds.  Is it our life as humans to keep failing with our responsibility?  I grow tired of failing.  I grow tired of trying.  It does seem like I may never do enough.  Does God ever intervene anymore?

“I do not think that we can ever defeat God in argument…  I believe that we should question God, if we do not fully understand.  I am not fully sure about what my questioning and thinking has done for me.  Why is God not trustworthy?  Is it only our own fault because of the way we’ve made the world?  The dance and the circle of questions continues.  I feel a sense of injustice, uncertainty and a longing to reach points of resolution....”

“If we keep demanding that God will yield up His answers, perhaps someday we will understand them.  And then we shall be something more than clever apes, and we shall dance with God. I cannot defeat God in an argument; I avoid the idea… I return today.  I will walk the middle path.  There is a time to question and a time of assurance.  I will walk the questioning path and I will walk the listening, praying and receiving paths as well.” – Jon Francis

He questioned and struggled but trusted in the Lord. When he was a senior at Augustana he called me on the phone and said; ‘Dad, I’ve decided to become a Lutheran.”  We had seen the process evolving over the years. Raising a child in Minnesota and sending them off to a Lutheran college means sure conversion to Lutheranism.  Jon was excited about all of the youth ministry that the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) was doing and wanted to be a part of it.   I couldn’t resist sharing one last Lutheran joke with him. I said; “You’ll still be a Christian won’t you?” Jon assured me that he would.

It is my deep regret that I can remember having only one discussion with Jon about theology. At dinner one night I said; “Jon, when I get to heaven I’m going to ask God why She didn’t do a better job in creation.  Why is our world so full of chaos, tribal warfare and violence?”   He thought for a minute as he often did and responded; “Dad isn’t that kind of arrogant?”  I quickly said; “Perhaps, but I think I deserve to know.  And by the way, if there is no heaven I’m really going to be mad!”

Jon Got it!

The hallmark of Jon’s brief life is:  he met people where they were and loved them with unconditional love. I believe in my heart that, through my son’s eyes, Jon saw the world as God’s wonderful creation that cried out for protection and preservation. Jon saw all of the creatures in the world as God’s Creatures, worthy of respect.  And my son Jon saw ALL PEOPLE as God’s Children worthy of unconditional love.

Jon called home the week before he climbed Grand Mogul.  That was the last time I spoke with my son.  He said; “Dad, I know you would like me to be in Minnesota and closer to home, but my ministry is out here.” I said; “Jon, I know.  It’s called leaving home.”  It’s all right. We all leave home.” 

To Honor His Memory.

In addition to the foundation, many people have done many acts of remembrance and we plan more to honor Jon’s life.

•    The Post Card - A Colorful and Vibrant Tribute to his friend
•    Jon Francis  3200 Team Race – Stillwater High School Pony Classic
•    Seattle Marathon
•    Jon Francis Half Marathon- May 2009, Stillwater
•    Arbor Day Tree – Stonebridge Elementary
•    The Jonathan Tree- Ogden Botanical Garden

Lake Jon

On the north side of Grand Mogul is a small, unnamed lake.  In July 2006, when I first began studying maps of the Sawtooth Mountains, I was struck by the curiosity that the lake had no name.  That summer we began to refer to it as “Lake Jon.”  It became a landmark, a campsite and a rendezvous point in our searches.  Before we left Idaho, Linda and I carried a marker to “Lake Jon”, dug a hole and secured the Lake Jon sign in the ground.

•    Searching for Jon –  The Book
     Massive Search
     Wonderful Discoveries.