MASSENA, New York — Just before Donna Madden Roberts of Sheldon, Missouri, died at her home in April, she shared a dying wish with her two sons. She wanted to be buried in Maine, a place she fell in love with as a child while staying in the Portland area.
Her sons, Jared Tyler Roberts, 24, and Joshua Ryan Roberts, 21, having lost everything connecting them to Missouri after she died, set out with her ashes on a trek in their minivan to try to grant her last wish. They ran out of gas along the way in Potsdam, New York.
It may have been the best thing to happen to them, because the two have found a new home in the Empire State.
“Our plan was to get to Maine and to bury our mom,” Jared Roberts said in a Monday phone interview. “We haven’t gotten there yet, but we plan to in the spring. We want to bury our mom in Portland.”
The brothers lost their biological father, grandmother, stepfather and mother all in the last three years, he said. They set up a GoFundMe account when a funeral home refused to release their mother’s remains over a $795 outstanding bill.
Without jobs, the brothers were left homeless at the end of August. That is when they decided to sell their belongings to pay for the 1,500-mile trip to Maine, where their mom once visited and loved so much she wished to return upon her death.
“She always talked about the town of Portland,” Jared Roberts said. “We thought if he and I could do anything, it would be to finish her last wish.”
A turn of bad luck turned into a good thing for the wandering duo. After running out of gas, the two pushed their empty minivan into the parking lot of a vacant business on Route 11 in St. Lawrence County, New York. They panhandled and slept in their vehicle to survive.
After more than three days without food, Joshua Roberts set off on foot on Sept. 27 for a nine-mile trip into the village of Canton to seek assistance. While hitchhiking, he ran into two New York state troopers.
The troopers picked up the hitchhiker and drove him back to the minivan, where Jared Roberts saw his brother in the back seat of the cruiser.
“I didn’t know if he had crushed under the pressure and stole some food or something,” Jared said, recalling his first thought when he saw his brother in the law enforcement vehicle. “We hadn’t eaten in close to four days. I was happy to see he wasn’t in any trouble.”
Troopers Daniel W. Manor and Joseph R. Knox helped the young men after hearing their tale. The officers contacted the on-call St. Lawrence County Social Services caseworker to see if the organization could assist the men. The troopers provided them with food and water, according to a Watertown Daily Times story.
Because it was a Saturday, the county wasn’t able to help until the weekend was over, Trooper Jennifer Fleishman, spokeswoman for New York state’s Troop B, said Tuesday.
“Neither trooper was satisfied with that,” she said of Manor and Knox, who are both fathers. “They jumped into action because it was important to make sure these young men were taken care of and helped to complete their mission.”
“I was very surprised … and grateful,” Jared Roberts said. “The Shakespeare phrase ‘So shines a good deed in a [weary] world’ kept running through my mind.”
The county came through with temporary housing, and after getting cleaned up, Jared Roberts applied for a job at the nearby Massena Home Depot.
“We hired him and after the job offer we realized he was homeless,” store manager Virginia Mossow said Monday. “Now he’s family. He’s done such a great job; it’s working out great.”
With a job and a place to stay, Jared Roberts is putting away a little bit of cash each week so the brothers can take their trip to Maine in the spring to bury or disperse the ashes of their mother. Joshua Roberts is looking for work.
In the meantime, they are grateful for the kindness shown them in New York.
“It was very humbling to find out people actually cared,” Jared Roberts said.