Jonathan Stansbury: How St. Xavier High School helped heal the heart of a grieving Mormon boy

hortly after Jonathan Stansbury’s last day of sixth grade, he traveled to Nepal with his dad and older brother for what was supposed to be the hike of a lifetime. Then something awful happened. The boys and their dad were on a trail when they heard a rumbling sound. A boulder tumbled out of nowhere and struck Jonathan’s brother, Timothy. The impact threw Timothy about 30 feet; he died instantly. In an instant, Jonathan became the only boy in his family and the only big brother his two little sisters had. Middle school was especially difficult for him. He acted out, he said, and his mom told him she sometimes wondered if he spent more time in the halls or the principal’s office than he did in class. Jonathan figured he needed a change. He left public schools to attend St. Xavier High School in Finneytown, where he has been the only Mormon at the all-boys Jesuit school for the past four years. But this isn’t a story about religion. It’s about relationships.