A decade after his death, St. Cloud exchange student still fostering connections

ST. CLOUD – As the sound of music from a festival at Lake George filtered in through the open windows of City Hall, a group of about two dozen people gathered Sunday afternoon for a more somber reason.

It was the 10-year anniversary of the day that upended all of their lives — when German exchange student Alexander Voigt died in a fiery plane crash five days before he was to return home. The untimely death of an adventurous 16-year-old devastated those who knew him. But it has also created lasting connections that span generations and continents.

"We've had an enlarged family ever since, and there are those we consider friends even though we don't see each other very much," Voigt's father, Yorck Jetter, said Sunday, a day after arriving from Munich with wife Jutta Voigt and daughter Kira Voigt.

Alex "Sascha" Voigt was visiting St. Cloud during the 2013-2014 school year as an international exchange student with Youth For Understanding. He was staying with St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis, an avid traveler who has visited more than 130 countries and had previously played host to five other exchange students.

On June 20, 2014, Voigt was savoring his final days in Minnesota. He had just returned to St. Cloud from a trip to Duluth, where he conquered the quintessential North Shore to-do list (Grandma's Saloon & Grill in Canal Park, Gooseberry Falls, Betty's Pies) and then said goodbye to friends at a going-away party.

That evening, he went up in the air in a small plane with commercial pilot Scott Olson to get some aerial photos. But about 25 minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed into a house in neighboring Sauk Rapids, taking Olson's life, too. It was later determined the plane likely lost pitch control when its canopy opened during flight.

"It's unbelievable that it's already been 10 years," Jetter said Sunday. It's the fourth time in the past decade the family has come to central Minnesota, and this time they wanted to reconnect with those who knew Voigt during his final year.

"It's very symbolic. Ten years just feels different," Jetter said.

Also in the room Sunday were Ken and Sharron Ring of Houston, Minn., who hosted Jetter as a foreign exchange student in 1979 and have kept in touch ever since.

"He is family," said Ken Ring, now 75.

Alex Voigt's family visited the Rings' farm when he was about 8 or 9, where he drove a tractor, went boating and begged to search for hidden Easter eggs even though it wasn't Eastertime, Sharron Ring said with a laugh.

Most of those gathered Sunday knew Voigt only as a high school student. He attended Technical High School, where he was known as a "positive goofball" who was adventurous and kind, said Joe Froelich, who met Voigt through sports at Tech.

"He was someone everyone gravitated towards," said Jess Ambrosch, another former classmate who is now engaged to Froelich.

The couple, who knew of each other in high school but weren't friends, started dating after Voigt introduced them.

"He's kind of responsible for us happening," said Ambrosch, noting Voigt's memory will carry into a new generation with their 10-month-old daughter Hazel, whose middle name, Alexandra, pays homage to Voigt.

"He may be gone physically but he's always with us, his influence," Froelich said. "We only knew him for a year. It's crazy how you can build those connections with people so fast. He was one of those people. You don't meet a lot of those people in your life."

Others shared similar sentiments.

"Alex brought us together as friends," Jake Oehrlein said about the group of former classmates who gathered Sunday. "I think, otherwise, we might not all have been in the same friend group. But we have a lifelong connection because of him."

Rachel Evavold, who went to prom with Voigt, said whenever she pictures Voigt, he is laughing and smiling. "He was always joking and so fun to be around — but also somebody you could count on for anything," she said.

Voigt's family hadn't seen him for a year when he died. After the crash, they came to St. Cloud to collect his remains and, on the same day he was supposed to return home, held a small memorial at St. Cloud's convention center.

The following year, the family returned to dedicate a bench along the Mississippi River. And on the fifth anniversary of his death, Voigt's family came to "retrace his steps" during the last month of his life by exploring the North Shore — and even sitting in the same booth at Grandma's. At the time, Jutta Voigt said they were learning a lot about the "Alex they never got to meet."

Former classmates, including Froelich and Ambrosch, have also visited Voigt's family in Munich. And Kleis visits them in Germany at least twice a year.

Seeing Voigt's former classmates — now as young adults with careers, and some with marriages and children — was bittersweet.

"It's a turning point in the life of his friends," Jetter said.

But even though Voigt didn't get the chance to blossom into a 20-something, he left an enduring mark on those who knew him.

"His short time on this earth made more impact on me than many individuals I've known my entire life," Kleis said. "His joy for life and new experiences was contagious."