Isle

Former BYU-I student dies in car crash in New Zealand

Amy Barrus BAR04050@BYUI.EDU news asst. editor

Two Latter-day Saint missionaries died on impact in a car accident near Timaru, New Zealand, last Friday morning.

Former student Elder Bradley J. Isle, 20, from Las Vegas, Nev., and Elder Jonathan R. Talmadge, 21, from Willamina, Ore., were on their way to an appointment when a car traveling at high speed crossed over the center line, hitting the young men in their Toyota, police said.

Elder Talmadge was to finish his mission in March, and Elder Isle had only been out since October, after attending a semester at BYU-Idaho.

“Both elders were lovely guys who were obedient and hard working missionaries,” said Sister Meagan Boswell, a missionary in the New Zealand Wellington mission and former BYU-I student. “We have all decided as a mission to work even harder and honor these two elders with the way we serve.”

Others who knew Elder Isle during his time at BYU-I had much to say about him.

“He was a very outgoing young man and very committed to living the gospel,” said Brian Kinghorn, Elder Isle’s former bishop and a professor in the Religion Department.

Mike Danielson, a senior from San Lorenzo, Calif., and Elder Isle’s next-door neighbor, expressed the same kind of memories of him.

“He was just a stellar kid,” Danielson said. “He was one of those guys who was willing to go the extra mile for anybody.”

Funeral dates are unknown at this time, but they will be held in the United States.