Trip to see sunrise becomes Troy teen’s final journey

By Charles Bolinger

Editor

A Troy teen’s trip to see the sun rise over the trees turned tragic earlier this month.

Logan Williams, 17, made such a journey in the small hours of July 6, when his car, a 2011 Acura TSX sedan, crashed into a walnut tree near Pere Marquette State Park, north of Grafton.

He was airlifted to Saint Louis University Hospital due to his injuries; Logan died three days after the crash.

Logan and his best friend, Carter Westbrook, traveled separately to the park to hike and catch the sunrise over the park’s hills and trees.

Logan’s father, Todd, set the scene for a reporter on July 16 while in Colorado. 

“Logan was a junior at Triad. He would have been a senior this year,” Todd Williams began. Todd said Logan played tennis for the Knights and as extra-curricular sports, he played baseball and soccer.

“He and three friends were at our home [on the evening of July 5 into the early morning hours of July 6]. They went swimming in our pool, they hooked up a projector to show on the outside wall of the garage so they could play xBox games and they set a bonfire.

“One friend left at midnight,” Todd continued. “Another friend left at 3 a.m. Between 3 and 4 a.m., Logan and Carter decided to head to Pere Marquette for a hike and to see the sunrise.”

The park is located between 45 and 60 minutes away from the Williams’ home, which is between Troy and O’Fallon. 

Todd said the impetus to see the sun come up stemmed from a June trip to the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico.

“Two weeks earlier to the day, we traveled to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico, with Logan’s Boy Scout Troop,” Todd said. He stressed this was no ordinary Scout camp. It’s a survival and high adventure camp that comprises 154,000 acres of arid land.

“We spent 12 days hiking for more than 80 miles and we summited seven mountains,” the father said. “We would wake up before the sun came up, so we got to see the sun rise over the mountains.”

Todd said Logan became ‘addicted’ to seeing the sun rise and set during their visit and he must have wanted to share a similar experience with Carter.

Back to the impulse trip to Pere Marquette – during the long journey up Highway 100, which is also known as the Great River Road, the exertions of the previous evening and morning hours caught up with Logan as he sat behind the steering wheel. 

“They were within a mile of the park entrance when Logan fell asleep, veered off of the road and hit a tree, killing him,” Todd recalled.

“We are heartbroken,” said Triad High School Principal Kelli Barbour on July 17. “There really are no words to express the loss of Logan Williams, a beloved member of our senior class. Our hearts go out to Logan’s family, friends and everyone in our school community who is affected by this loss.

“Logan was a bright and caring individual who brought a unique spirit to THS,” she continued. “His absence will be deeply felt by his classmates, teachers and all of us. We continue to offer counseling services and mental health resources to our students and staff during this difficult time.”

Sounds of the crash woke Bob Beloit, his wife, Shannon, and their dog just before Bob would have been getting up for the new day, he told a reporter by phone on July 16. They live about 1.5 miles east of the park entrance on Route 100, near the riding stables. 

“We were startled out of our sleep; we thought maybe someone had hit or come into our house.” 

Beloit spent seven years as a Fosterburg Firefighter; he’s retired these days. Bob said he was outside to see what happened within a minute or two.

The Acura hit the only tree on the river side of the road, across from the Beloits’ home. “The left front corner was struck and there was damage all down the left side,” he said. “I could tell from a distance that the driver’s door was so mangled that you weren’t going to get it open.”

He said he peeked in the passenger side of the TSX but his former training reminded him that since there was no fire and no immediate danger, there was no point in trying to remove Logan from the vehicle on his own with no firefighter gear.

Meanwhile, Carter had exited his own vehicle and was on his mobile phone with Jersey County 911, explaining the situation and where they were located with Beloit relaying pertinent crash details, but in the end, Carter loaned his phone to Beloit to complete the conversation.

Beloit said the first Jersey County Police Deputy of many police officers arrived within minutes of Carter’s call.

Beloit said besides head trauma, he thought Logan suffered from a possible collapsed lung from the way he breathed. Beloit added that Logan was conscious but non-responsive as the firefighter attempted to talk to the teen.

Since Route 100 is a state highway, the Illinois State Police also responded to the incident and it soon became a joint operation to free Logan from the wreckage and to call for a Life Flight ARCH Air Medical Service Helicopter to airlift him to St. Louis due to his head trauma. 

“Ultimately, there was nothing I could do,” Beloit said. “However, the first responders did a great job. I ended up directing traffic on Route 100.”

Meanwhile, a jogger who used the biking trail that runs in front of the Beloits’ home had stopped to see what happened and ended up talking to and comforting Carter, who now was not only tired from the previous activities and journey but was despondent over what happened to his buddy. Beloit said the jogger and Shannon convinced Carter to call his father to tell him what had happened and to come to the scene to take Carter home; they said he was in no shape to drive.

“I wish more things could have been done for Logan,” Beloit said. “But short of having an emergency room right there at the side of the road, there was nothing else that could be done.”

Returning to Logan’s father, Todd, he said the hospital staff members kept Logan alive long enough for the family and Carter to be at his bedside. Todd pointed out that Carter spent three days in a row at the hospital where he could be near his best friend. 

By July 9, Todd and his wife, Toni, decided to donate their son’s major organs. Logan was kept on a ventilator and heart monitor until donors could be lined up for his major organs. That decision benefitted five people, Todd noted.

“His heart went to a 17-year-old girl,” Todd recalled. “We donated his lungs, liver and another organ. We also donated some of his bone marrow and some of his skin but I don’t know who received those.”

Long before the crash, Todd had purchased four tickets for the family to see country and western star Eric Church at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on July 16. After the crash, Todd and Toni invited Logan’s girlfriend, Haley Miller, and Carter to join them. Todd said when Church’s public relations team heard of the family’s recent loss, they gave them a fifth ticket to that night’s show so the family, Haley and Carter could all attend.

On the morning of the concert, Todd said, “We got up early to do a sunrise hike in remembrance of my son, as this is what he and Carter were on their way to do at Pere Marquette State Park.”

Since the crash, Todd said he has received at least 50 to 75 messages from students and others at Triad High School who knew Logan.

“They all said he is the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it,” Todd recalled. “Students who had no friends, he would befriend them, ask them to join his team in gym or in social studies to add someone else to his group. He volunteered his time to help others out. 

“He loved being in the creek, being in the woods, fishing, just being outside,” Todd remembered. “He loved sunrises and sunsets. Other than that, he was a typical teenager. He spent time with Haley and his friends.”

Logan is survived by his parents and his sister, Brooke. 

A Gofundme page has been set up for Logan’s parents to help them meet the expenses incurred by not only the airlift to St. Louis, the three-day hospital stay and funeral expenses plus other, related expenses. The goal is $100,000 and as of July 22, 841 donors had given $71,994 or 72% of the total.

If you would like to contribute, please visit the site by clicking here.