Jesse Dannels' parents receive his Congressional Record

"It'll never be better," Ruth said, before explaining how she and her husband are learning to live without Jesse.

The Dannelses say they wouldn't have strength without support from their community and their faith. Things are most difficult early mornings and late nights, Ruth said, with Bob slightly nodding in agreement.

"We wait for him to come home late at night," Bob added, slightly tilting his head down.

The Dannelses talked Wednesday afternoon in their Chinook home about the day Jesse was killed in a head-on collission with a semitractor-trailer.

It happened on a Sunday. It was a lazy afternoon and everyone was lying around the house. Jesse had gone out and Bob fell asleep in the living room recliner.

Bob said a barking dog awakened him. Ruth walked into the room and said to Bob that Lieutenant Sheriff John Colby was coming toward the house.

"We knew then," Bob said, with Ruth echoing his words.

Looking back on it, Bob and Ruth say they knew something had gone very bad before Colby said a word.

Bob and Ruth said something uniquely powerful happened after getting the news that would forever change how they view and interact with the world.

"The peace that descended on us at that moment was unearthly," Ruth said.

The couple agreed neither one ever experienced such a powerful spiritual sensation.

Jesse's characteristic kind-heartedness - the kind that would create enough buzz to alert Sen. Steve Daines that someone really special had been lost to the community - put Bob and Ruth in action mode right away.

Jesse, a multi-sport high school athlete, was an organ donor, and timing was crucial. The Dannelses had to answer questions about their son's lifestyle to determine if his lifeless body would be suitable to help others - did Jesse use drugs? Did he have AIDS, or any other disease?

Today, there is a 53-year-old woman and 37-year-old man, both living life somewhere, each seeing life through one of Jesse's cornea's.

Alison Vergeront, a field representative for Daines, stopped by the Dannels' home to present the couple with a Congressional Record in honor of Jesse for the impact Jesse's life had on everyone whose lives spilled into his.

Alison said the senator monitors social media regularly and Jesse's death triggered such a response that it was impossible not to take notice.

The Dannelses were open and talkative. They smiled as they shared stories of Jesse, stories of Jesse and his brothers and pictures of family outings. They showed letters Jesse had written to coaches and classmates and fellow team members. One coach told the Dannelses that, before Jesse, no student had ever written him a thank-you note.

Ruth showed a picture of her and Jesse at a University of Arizona football game, where Jesse had been accepted to attend this year to study to be a special educations teacher. He wanted to walk on as a punter on the football team.

The Dannelses also shared mysterious events they say are God's way of showing them that He is with them.

A crazy thing happened while the families were in a Billings restaurant during the state wrestling championship weekend last month.

Coach Perry Miller paid for the boys' meal. He got cash change back and laid a bill on the table as a tip.

As he was talking to the adults, he noticed some excitement among the boys. To Perry, it looked liked they had picked up the bill he had put down for the tip. He walked over to see why the boys were messing around.

The boys excitedly dismissed taking the tip money. One of them was holding the $10 bill and kept saying to Perry, "Look! Look!" Perry grabbed it and saw that the bill he had gotten back as change from a waitress they did not know had a message someone had written on it.

On the bill, in black marker, were the words: "Don't forget about me - J.D."