4. Austin remembers Jake Moe and Luke Unverzagt

Two Austin men lost their lives and a third was seriously injured when Jake Moe, Luke Unverzagt and Jason Fredrickson crashed a car through a utility pole, fence and a walnut tree at 1:50 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25. Moe and Unverzagt, both 32, died, while Fredrickson was transported to St. Marys Hospital. Moe and Unverzagt’s families held memorials and fundraisers in their honor later this year.

Moe’s family and friends hosted “The Jake Moe Experience” in July, a day-long celebration of Moe’s life through a kickball tournament, family festival and live entertainment, with all proceeds going to a scholarship in Moe’s name for Riverland Community College’s carpentry program. Megan Moe, Jake’s wife, said in July she hopes to help organize “The Jake Moe Experience” for years to come. The two met in high school and were married last year.

“He laughed all the time,” she said in July. “It was just fun to be around him.”

Unverzagt’s family honored his memory with The Luke Unverzagt Memorial Car Cruise in June, with Unverzagt’s own Chevy Nova leading the procession throughout Mower County.

“My intention is to keep him a living memory in everyone’s life, and to continue to show that he was the hardest working, infectious, and genuine person most people will ever have the opportunity to meet,” Sarah Unverzagt, Luke’s wife, wrote in an email to the Herald last June.

Proceeds from that fundraiser went to a Riverland electrician program scholarship named for Unverzagt.

—By Trey Mewes