MILLIKEN, Colo. — Mark Emsbach said his son, Jon, made him a parent. He said from day one, he lived life "full throttle."
"I don’t know if he had a genetic defect where the fear gene was missing, but that kid, nothing intimidated him," Mark shared.
He said the way his son was so fearless, it didn't seem like there was anything that would take his son away from him.
"He set his own rules and did his own thing," Mark said.
On May 21, Front Range Fire and Milliken Police recovered Jon's body from a retention pond in Lake Ehrlich in Milliken. Mark said his son had been fishing and was missing before first responders found him.
"My son Michael ultimately called me and said, 'It’s Jon,'" Mark said. "And I just, how do you deal with that? And I don’t think the reality’s completely set in. Jon was larger than life."
Mark said much of Jon's younger years were spent with a rod in his hand. Fishing was one of his favorite pastimes the two shared. It makes his death all the more tragic, for him.
"I just can’t wrap my head around it yet," Mark said.
Also struggling to process a life without Jon are his brothers, Derek Emsbach and Christian Prather.
"I feel like being my brother, he’s a part of me, you know," Derek said. "I guess in a way, I don't feel like he's ever going to be really gone, because his spirit is going to kind of live on through me."
"I don't think that's quite real yet," Christian said. "He left a mark for sure. I am happy for all the memories."
Both Derek and Christian described their brother Jon as a "protector."
"My senior year, I had a football game where I got cheap-shotted, I would call it," Derek recounted. "But I got the wind knocked out of me and I was on my back. When I opened my eyes, my brother Jon was right there. He beat my trainer, coach, he leapt out of the stands and got to me before I even opened my eyes."
The brothers also spoke to Jon's humor, fearlessness and competitiveness.
"He was about to wipe me off the map, I don't remember if it was Monopoly or Risk," Christian said. "He told me I was allowed, he wouldn't attack me, if I did his laundry for a week. That protection lasted one round and the next round I was out of the game and stuck doing laundry."
These "Jon Stories" were some the brothers and other loved ones said were shared at Jon's celebration of life Tuesday.
Mark said looking around at the number of people there to remember his son, showed him so much about his son's character.
"Everybody loved Jon," Mark said. "The people who love Jon, there’s a lot of smiling with tears right now. Hopefully it’ll just end up with just smiling."
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