He had spent the weekend camping with his church group and was returning to the Bay Area in a van with 12 other men and boys when it blew a tire, flipped and plunged down an embankment near Cloverdale. Two other passengers also were killed. Other members of the church said he was dedicated to the Royal Rangers, the church's youth group that is similar to the Boy Scouts. He was among a group of about 65 men and boys who went on the camping retreat to Lake Mendocino, where he had cooked the meals and won the horseshoe competition, other members of the group said. The church has set up a fund to help the families of those who died.
Funeral services are pending.