Oregon State soccer standout Nathan Braaten was spending a July 4 holiday doing what a lot of college students do — making some extra money.
He and teammate John Chambers were finishing up the painting of a house they had been working on for several days. They talked about a lot of things, including the possibility of a skiing trip in the near future.
Hours later Chambers, 19, took his own life. It was Braaten who found him.
Braaten was still processing the loss of a friend from his hometown in Colorado, who had taken his own life six months earlier.